I spent a week looking for the book but couldn't find it. However, my search did turn up interesting information about mistakes being made by decision making at 35,000 feet.

I've run into more than a few business types over the years who spent most of their time flying around the world visiting their offices and doing deals. Tony O'Reilly, the one-time great Irish rugby player who went on to be the chief executive of the Heinz company, would regularly fly to Australia in the company jet. Ultimately, he fell on hard times because, in every sense, he just didn't have his feet on the ground.

In those days it was a very big deal to have a private plane and I was mightily impressed with the fact that his jet was fitted with filing cabinets so that he had all the information on his global enterprises was right at his fingertips, just outside the loo.

Over the years I have known many chief executives who have made very poor decisions from their aeroplanes.

They would argue that they were very successful because they regularly visited all over the world, however it can have the reverse effect. I once met an international takeover merchant whose company had progressively bought three organisations in Australia. When one failed, they simply bought another and installed a new chief executive. In the end all went broke.

I asked, "why do you do it"? Unbelievably, he said that he only has two days on the ground and hardly knows anyone. So, he appoints the first person he thinks is appropriate.

His businesses disappeared, as he did, "into thin air", a phrase that is also the title of Jon Krakauer's book about two very experienced mountain climbers whose judgment became seriously impaired while climbing Everest. The theory goes that they became over-confident despite proper oxygen supplies, a dangerous condition for any of us at any time.

Just take a look at Tony Blair's autobiography, A Journey, much of which is about life at 35,000 feet. The former British Labor PM was fond of comparing himself to a businessman looking for the next great opportunity while criss-crossing the Atlantic pursuing his affection for George W and dropping into countries around the world to solve their problems. One reviewer describes his story about himself as "a dizzying blend of self-belief, name dropping with genuinely shrewd analysis and eclectic leadership tips".

"I'd just call him loopy," says Louise.

Tony Blair detailed his jetsetting ways in his book. Photo: AP

We all know that long distance air travel leaves us feeling a bit off for a few days. And it doesn't matter what type of class or plane we travel in.

It's all the more critical these days because most of our "high-flying" business and political leaders are travelling in aircraft that have email and telephone connection to the world below them.

Some years back Qantas started introducing phone calling for passengers and I am told that former PM Kevin Rudd holds the record for being on the phone all the way from New York to Sydney.

We need our leaders in all sectors to live and breathe in the real world as much as possible. Some of our great leaders didn't have to contend with the disorientation of 700km/h. Menzies happily took months to make the round trip to London by ship. Unimaginable now, as is the travel of our West Australian politicians of last century who used to take the train across the Nullarbor to Canberra.

So, with Christmas holidays approaching I appeal to all our leaders to forget about any more flying around and take a leaf out of former deputy prime minister Doug Anthony's book who, when stepping in for the PM over the Christmas break, ran the country from a caravan just outside Lismore.

John Howard, perhaps the most down to earth PM we have had in recent times, always took his break in a modest unit at Hawks Nest where he could paddle around thinking about the great decisions that needed to be taken.

John Howard was always good at taking a much needed break. Photo: James Brickwood

The point is clear. We need to keep our feet on the ground and hang around people who will tell us the truth. If we don't, we are going to make big mistakes.

It's time to lock the VIP jets in their hangars and leave our leaders on the ground for a while.

Forty years of watching the leaders around the world has shown me that you can easily lose perspective on life, especially the life being led by those who were called "the battlers" in John Howard's era. And you're not going to find any of them at 35,000 feet.