If you’d asked me ten years ago, I would’ve sworn it was too late for Detroit. The city I grew up next to had been through so much—boarded-up windows, empty blocks, headlines about decline.

I left at 21, moved to Colorado, and barely looked back. So when two Australians I met in Portland told me Detroit was their favorite U.S. city—after NYC, LA, Austin, Vegas, Boston, San Francisco—I thought they were joking.

They weren’t.

After three days downtown for a coaching event, I finally got it.

Detroit is thriving. Coffee shops buzzing, record stores spinning, murals wrapping whole buildings. Four sports arenas within walking distance. Historic buildings restored beside shiny towers. And the Diego Rivera murals at the DIA—somehow I missed them my entire childhood—had my jaw on the floor.

Here’s what floored me: locals are just as in awe. Every Uber driver, barista, and hotel clerk said the same thing—“it’s only been in the last 10 years.” A massive transformation in a blink of time. P...