Leigh Sales at Oxley

Leigh Sales at Oxley

Oxley was lucky enough to host Leigh Sales this past Friday, as a part of the College’s Centre for Ethics lecture series, and truly, it was an absolutely phenomenal evening. The PCC in all its glory, artfully arranged for the Junior School’s Matilda Jr production, was abuzz with chatter, scarves, mittens, and tightly grasped cups of tea as we listened with rapt attention to Mrs Sales. 

Mrs Sales is, in short, an Australian legend. A journalist and author, Sales is renowned for her work with the ABC, hosting Australian Story, 7:30 and Lateline throughout her career. To contextualise this mammoth achievement, that means she’s hugged Paul McCartney.

I know. Give it a second to sink in. It gets cooler the more you think about it.

She’s also interviewed Hilary Clinton, Shane Warne, Dave Grohl, Harrison Ford and every living Australian Prime Minister. Throughout her talk, we were regaled with the highs and lows of these experiences. The gut-wrenching anxiety weeks in advance for a big event, reassuring herself she can always pull out until the day before hosting election night, and then it being the day before election night, and realising there was no pulling out and feeling even more nervous. 

Most poignantly, Sales revealed that of all her interviewees, Shane Warne was by far her favourite. 

“He was genuine,” Sales revealed, the audience roaring with laughter at tales of his sincerity and openness during interviews. “People crave that.”

This point led Sales to her most impactful of the night; the importance of genuine transparency, and reliability when it comes to people in power. Observing the news for decades throughout her career, it became apparent big business was baffled by the fallout in consumer trust. Time and time again, big business, or big leaders, would make promises. Say they believed something. Say they would help someone, or do something, or change something: and then, they wouldn’t.

The shock at a loss of consumer trust, for Sales, was baffling.

The correspondence is very clear: as a society, we crave genuine leaders who are who they say they are. We want promises we can trust, celebrities who are as advertised, and definites we can rely upon. As Sales noted, life is anything but definite. As her book, “Any Ordinary Day” outlines, life can change in an instant. 

After an evening of laughter, stories, Paul McCartney and hot tea and coffee, needless to say the Centre for Ethics’ fourth lecture this year was an incredible success. We are absolutely thrilled to be welcoming Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE, FRCP (Hon.) to Oxley on August 29!

Violet F, Year 11