Education is a global enterprise. It is increasingly assumed that an "international perspective" is required to comprehend and relate this world scale enterprise to national, regional and local practice. The phrase is used frequently and generally without an exact definition of meaning. This article explores how the concept of an "international perspective" might be understood in educational leadership and explores the pressures for adopting such a stance. It argues that the pressures are multiple and complex and that the term itself can be understood in a number of different ways. It suggests that there are indeed advantages in adopting an international perspective, however defined, and that the educator is lacking an essential breadth if practice remains bound by the values and approaches which have emerged over time in any one location.