“You need to learn how to bring yourself to this state of calmness. If you are going to a major negotiation, how do you get into a state so you make the right decisions at the right time? You do this from a state of calmness,” Bertrand says.

“The key is to learn to do this so you can repeat it at any time, which is military thinking,” he adds. The military runs exercises where personnel exercise vigorously to raise their pulse, then race against each other, by breathing, to bring their heart beat and adrenalin down to a point where they reach their own level of calmness.

“It’s a mental game of having the external environment not controlling you, but for you to be controlling your external environment,” Bertrand says.

Benchmarking is another tool corporate Australia could use.

Swimming and other sports which operate in highly competitive markets are constantly benchmarking themselves off other codes in a bid to ensure athletes remain at the top of their games and win medals and premierships.

No one has all the answers. That’s a really important thing to understand. The game is changing and improving all the time.

— John Bertrand

“In the leadership role, we need to be students of life. We need to be constantly learning and benchmarking off other organisations,” says Bertrand, who finishes at Swimming Australia at the end of October.

“[Hawthorn coach] Alastair Clarkson is the coach of the [AFL] football club. He’s out there all the time, benchmarking off what’s happening in the US and around the world, and at Harvard in terms of leadership styles. These people are students of life. They’re constantly learning on the basis that no one has all the answers,” Bertrand says.

“No one has all the answers,” he restates. “That’s a really important thing to understand. The game is changing and improving all the time.”

Bertrand is confident that more research into the human brain will help future leaders make better decisions.

“When humans are under pressure and can make better decisions at the right time, that’s the game into the future,” he says, noting that humans use only about 8 per cent or 9 per cent of the brain’s capacity. “If we can get that to 12 per cent in years to come, it’s a game changer in terms of human performance,” he says.

“From my perspective, there is massive opportunity for improvement. And that’s happening all the time. And so the question is: Can can we get our act together in this country and take a lead? I think it’s an interesting observation,” says the yachtsman, whose next role could be playing a part in Queensland’s efforts to host the Olympic Games in 2032. (As an aside, he is confident the Summer Olympics will go ahead next year in Tokyo.)

In the meantime, Bertrand notes that well-established businesses can learn a great deal from young companies, which may not be using different brain techniques but have adopted a different attitude. Young companies make decisions faster, and those at the helm tend to operate with no fear.

“Young people have no fear or less fear. Older people have experience and they can translate the fear and that can hold you back so much,” Bertrand says.

“I just love seeing all the new ideas that are coming out as a result of what the internet is allowing people to do and the ability to create new models and disrupt old models.”