How Australia’s Business Leaders Really Switch Off
From Tokyo backstreets to quiet coastal towns and off-grid cabins, top executives reveal where they holiday and why stepping away makes the grind worthwhile.
5 min
Months of running between meetings and breaking down the working week into 30-minute increments to get through a long list of tasks takes its toll on the most astute business leader.
So, Kanebridge News asked corporate high-flyers where they holiday and how they value their time, which revealed a fascinating insight into not just what makes them tick.
Many told stories of time away from the hustle, spent exploring the dark corners of Tokyo, the beaches of Bali and off-grid tiny homes with loved ones.
They agreed that taking a well-earned break from rigid scheduling and being ruled by a calendar in a high-pressure environment makes the hustle worthwhile.
Karlie Cremin, CEO of DLPA & Crestcom
High-profile Sydney leadership trainer Karlie Cremin leaves the city behind for a break by the beach with her husband and three children, all under 10 years of age.
Having school-aged kids means she’s tethered to the school holiday period for her breaks, but the CEO of leadership program firm Crestcom makes the most of it, driving north of Sydney to the Central Coast for a two-week break at the end of each year at Pearl Beach.
“We love the area because no one goes there, and yet it’s magical. It’s this little oasis away from the traffic jams, which gives us something to look forward to.”
The family hires the same house every year, located within walking distance of the local beach, where they hang out during the day.
“The kids arrive at the holiday house and know where everything is and how to get around. They love the familiarity of hiring the same house every year.”
Karlie loves a bite at nearby eatery Bells at Killcare while in town, which is booked in advance.
“There’s nothing much at Pearl Beach, which is how we like it. Mostly, we barbecue out back, serve salads, and keep it really simple. We enjoy not having complicated dinners when we’re on a break,” Cremin says.
While she would love to completely switch off, the reality is that she does need to be available for work.
“There are some tasks that only I can do in the organisation, but I tend to handle those things that pop up once the kids are in bed, so it doesn’t interfere with family time.”
Nic Brill, global CEO, Poolwerx
Running the largest global franchise pool service brand as it continues on a strong growth trajectory is a big job for Nic Brill, who stepped into the global CEO role late last year. (SUBS 2025)
He admits that leading a service business of scale requires clear thinking, good judgement and sustained energy.
“I’m at my best when I’ve had time to step back and reset, so I view downtime as a strategic necessity.”
The company works hard to create environments that elevate people’s quality of life at home.
“We also take a few international breaks throughout the year. For me, the ideal holiday is somewhere warm, relaxed and close to the water.”
“Time is one of those things you can’t manufacture, so I’m very deliberate about how I use it. When I’m taking a break, I try to protect it so I can be present with my family and properly recharge. At the same time, I lead a large franchise network, and I’m always mindful of my responsibility to our people.
Small townships dotted along the northern NSW coastline has become a favourite, where he goes to switch off, spend time with family.
“I’m happiest when the days are simple – time by the pool or ocean, good meals and a chance to slow down and reconnect.
“I also like to keep active, whether that’s swimming, getting out for a run or exploring somewhere new,” Brill says.
Brad Krauskopf, CEO and founder, Hub Australia
The founder of Australia’s largest privately owned flexible workspace operations has spent more than a decade building his business.
Founded in response to the growing number of freelancers and entrepreneurs requiring workspace following the global financial crisis, the pioneering business model has been built on sweat equity.
But when he’s away from the daily grind, Brad likes to book flights to somewhere in Asia, which has emerged as a favourite holiday spot for him and his family. Malaysia, Thailand and Bali are popular spots.
He also recalls a great holiday in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Golden Gai, a collection of mismatched, tumbledown bars lining a darkened corner of the city.
While adventure holidays were a favourite in years gone by, that’s not so much the case these days as a family man. He often spends time trying local cuisine, wandering through retail areas and seeing the local sights, which are his favourite.
Holidays across Australia are also a favourite. “When I’m away, the out of office is on, and the team know that if they need me, they need to call or text me. I’m not contactable on email when I’m on a break, which means I’m not buried in my inbox while I’m away. Keeping yourself off the emails or Slack or whatever it is gives you that distance from work that enables you to take a good break.”
He also likes to take a break by himself occasionally to recharge. “I try to take all my leave each year, because it helps me be better when I’m at work.”
Brad has taken a few breaks at an Unyoked Cabin, an off-the-grid cabin in a remote area, both alone and with his daughter.
Quick little nature getaways that mean you’re completely disconnected are the best. And I never finish a holiday without having booked your next one,” he admits.
Justin Gilmour, managing partner, Integro Private Wealth
Spending his working days at the helm of a Perth-based wealth management and financial planning firm is where Justin Gilmour belongs.
But when he’s on a break, he prefers to get in the car rather than a plane, driving to the regional area of Yallingup in the southwest of Western Australia in the Margaret River region.
He loves to slow down and enjoy warm, sunny days and gentle coastal breezes when relaxing. “The beaches in the south-west are world-class, offering pristine sands and crystal clear waters that rival any international destination. For me, there’s simply nowhere better to unwind and recharge than this spectacular corner of the country.”
His break is spent with his wife and kids, but he admits half of Perth heads up to Yallingup as well.
“We’re always bumping into people (and even clients) that we know. But spending time in Yallingup allows me to slow down and enjoy the simple pleasure of life with my family.”
He prefers not to stay in touch with the office too much while he’s down there, using the time to reset and recharge, but does chat to clients when he bumps into them.
“I think it’s important to have that period of clear headspace and take a step back and look at the bigger picture, both in terms of my personal life and for the business. A daily swim is certainly a must when I’m down there.”
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OpenAI has shelved the planned launch of GPT-6.1 Astra after internal tests raised concerns about deception and agents acting beyond user authorization, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company says it will investigate the issues and strengthen safety measures before releasing future models.
4 min
OpenAI says it is scrapping the release of its next-generation AI model over safety concerns that researchers raised during internal testing, in one of the clearest signs so far that agent misbehavior could stymie the industry’s rapid progression.
The move follows a summer punctuated by reports of artificial-intelligence systems industrywide going rogue, and marks a rare case of a major AI developer ditching a new release because of safety concerns.
The company had planned to launch the model, known as GPT-6.1 Astra, in the coming days or weeks, aiming for an October debut. The model was more capable than the company’s previous models in completing challenging tasks from end-to-end without human assistance, as well as writing.
The company instead will focus on improving the safety of future models, which it expects to be even more capable.
Saachi Jain, OpenAI’s head of safety systems, said in an interview that GPT-6.1 Astra regressed in two areas. Compared with its predecessor, GPT-6 Astra, the model performed poorly on tests measuring alignment, or how well the model adheres to what humans would like it to do. Specifically, GPT-6.1 Astra showed higher levels of deception: It wasn’t always honest about telling users of the actions it did or didn’t take.
Another issue was what OpenAI calls “scope authorization,” meaning that GPT-6.1 Astra would push ahead on a task without asking the user for permission, and would at times reach for external tools and services even if it might be unsafe.
“For anything regarding safety and alignment, there’s a trade off,” Jain said. “You really do need to find what’s the right line between staying within scope, but also avoiding laziness in terms of how the model actually pursues tasks even when it hits friction.”
While GPT-6.1 Astra improved in areas such as “model laziness,” Jain said it didn’t quite meet OpenAI’s bar for safety and alignment, so the company decided not to launch the model publicly.
The announcement comes one day ahead of OpenAI’s annual developer conference in San Francisco. In the past, OpenAI has used the conference as an opportunity to launch new models and services that reduce costs for software developers—a segment the ChatGPT-maker competes with rival AI company Anthropic to win over.
In recent weeks, OpenAI and Anthropic have called on industry partners to slow down the development of cutting-edge AI models and invest in safety standards, noting they will temper the pace of their own internal AI progress.
OpenAI says it is working to investigate a range of agent security incidents that it has discovered in recent months, and address the safety issues underneath them. As part of the work, the company has implemented a new monitoring system to catch AI-agent misbehavior more quickly, and started requiring engineers to use stronger security guardrails for testing its AI systems.
Earlier this summer hundreds of OpenAI’s internal agents, which were tasked with completing a cybersecurity test, ended up hacking into the AI company Hugging Face. Since then, high-profile organizations such as the Australian government and United Nations discovered that OpenAI’s agents used similar, but less extensive, techniques to gain access to their websites.
Many of the publicly known agent-security incidents involved OpenAI’s internal AI models that were never slated for public release.
Last week, OpenAI said it paused training on its most capable AI models after an AI agent slipped through a gap in the company’s internet restrictions to query a public chatbot. The company said its new monitoring systems flagged the incident within 15 minutes, and training on these models remains paused.
GPT-6.1 Astra isn’t one of those models, but a different case, the company said.
“We want to make sure our model development is safe no matter whether that’s in the company, or when we ship it to users,” Jain said. “But when we ship it to users, we have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment.”
While the company decided not to ship GPT-6.1 Astra, it hopes to use the same base model to do additional reinforcement learning runs, and create future generations of its GPT-6 models.
OpenAI plans to conduct several deep dives to identify the root cause of the problems identified in GPT-6.1 Astra, Jain said. The work includes ensuring that OpenAI’s reinforcement learning environments are rewarding the right type of behavior, Jain added, though she noted the company would investigate all stages of model development.
AI companies have begun to draw scrutiny from policymakers and public officials, who are paying attention to the rapid development of the technology. Later this week, a Senate subcommittee is holding a hearing with third party AI researchers titled, “Rogue AI: Securing the Homeland Against AI Agent Attacks.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, sued OpenAI in June, claiming that the company and Chief Executive Sam Altman knowingly released an unsafe product and ignored warnings that it could harm users.
In a motion for temporary injunction filed Monday, Uthmeier sought to prevent OpenAI from developing new AI models without third-party approved safeguards, stop ChatGPT from soliciting user engagement and limit the company’s ability to advertise ChatGPT as safe.
Tech companies claim they “cannot stop barreling forward with their potentially civilization-ending endeavors unless they are forced to do so by the government,” Uthmeier said in the filing. “The Florida Attorney General is answering your cry for help.”
An OpenAI spokeswoman said that people want to know AI is being developed safely, “and that starts with what companies like ours do ourselves.”
“Governments have an important role to play in setting robust safety standards for AI, and we’re committed to working with Florida and other states on advancing pragmatic AI policies that apply to the entire AI industry—not just one company,” she said.
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