How passion and drive made Carlton president Luke Sayers a leader
He describes himself as “just a humble boy from the country” but Carlton president Luke Sayers is one of Melbourne’s powerbrokers. Here’s what drove him to the top.
Victoria
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After Carlton crashed out of AFL finals contention in the dying seconds of the 2022 season, club president Luke Sayers ventured into the players’ rooms.
He felt the emotion pouring out of the team and the Blues faithful as they grappled with missing a top 8 spot by 0.6 percentage points.
“To just miss (finals) was like a big dagger in the heart,” he said.
The self-assured optimist took a couple of days to regain his composure and focus on the solid “foundations” built during the season.
Sayers had taken the reins at Carlton a year earlier, when he told members the “singular focus” must be to win games and put the club in a position to win premierships.
That single-minded approach hasn’t wavered, and while the lid remains metaphorically on, Sayers struggles to contain the confidence brewing.
“I’m sure we’ll do better again this year, and bring some more joy and delight to all those blue bagger fans all around the world,” he said.
While some AFL presidents generate headlines at the drop of a scarf – hello Jeff Kennett and Eddie McGuire – Sayers has preferred to cruise slightly under the radar, laughingly describing himself as “just a humble boy from the country”.
But if there was a power index published in Victoria today, Sayers would feature prominently.
A running joke among state ministers last term was that they would probably one day work for the businessman, who counts Premier Dan Andrews and former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg as mates.
He also knows that to have an impact as a sport and business leader, you can’t always be Mr Nice Guy.
“From time to time, you’re going to ruffle some feathers, and you’re going to have to make some hard calls,” he said.
Making a leader
When Sayers was in year 12 at Coomoora High School in Melbourne’s southeast, his computer science teacher developed cancer.
A replacement couldn’t be sourced, so Sayers – whose mother, Coral, was a teacher at the school – stepped up to help.
“I taught the class,” he said.
“I’m sure everyone got special compensation that year, being taught for a period of time by me!”
Few of his classmates would be surprised that their fill-in teacher became a partner at consultancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers – now PwC – by the age of 29, and its youngest ever CEO by the age of 42.
The desire to lead, and to have an impact, was obvious.
“I think you’re born a bit like that, but also, your parents encouraging you to get on and do stuff, and go for it,” he said.
Until the age of nine, Sayers grew up in Rochester in northern Victoria where life “rotated around the footy club, the cricket club, the netball club”.
His father Graham was the principal at the local school, where Coral also taught.
Both parents had been dux of their respective schools – Scotch College and Kilbreda College.
“Education was really important,” Sayers said.
At the age of 9, Sayers and his two siblings moved to Calgary, Canada, where Graham and Coral studied further degrees.
His first impressions were “ice hockey, freezing cold, an accent that you couldn’t really understand, but really, really, really good people”.
He also describes an “entrepreneurial sort of culture”, and getting a view of a much bigger world than “Rochy” had afforded.
With a Sherrin often in hand he taught other kids footy and dabbled in ice hockey “before I could really skate” and was told by one coach to “just hit anything that came near me".
Returning to Australia to finish school and university in Melbourne, he continued to play ice hockey with the Oakleigh Demons and would later move back to North Amercia – this time to Washington, DC, with his wife, Cate.
The newlyweds found a house on Dupont Circle in a city where everything seemed to be happening and “you’re right there, you’re in it”.
The couple had their first child, Claudia, in the US, but decided to return to Melbourne when they were expecting their second child, Alexandra.
It was to be a life-altering moment.
The greatest gift
The day after Alexandra was born, Cate Sayers noticed she was struggling to latch to breastfeed.
A paediatrician was called and after an inspection of the baby’s muscle tone and hands and feet, decided to test for Down syndrome.
After the diagnosis was made, Sayers described a whirlwind of emotions and “hard questions”.
Cate persevered with breastfeeding, meaning she was up 20 hours a day as one-year-old Claudia clamoured for attention.
“One night it was about two in the morning and we were in the fight, you know, pushing through and (saying) Alle will be fine,” he said.
“Also, we were just hurting.
“And we just looked at each other and said, you know, we’ve got this, and we were so blessed and so fortunate to have Alle.
“To this day, she’s the greatest gift to our family, to all the girls.”
Two more daughters – Bronte and Lucinda – came in quick succession, and Sayers grins when noting that even the family’s dog is female.
Determined to give Alle opportunities equal to her sisters, and which they could provide, Cate established an Inclusion Foundation in 2008 that specialised in dance classes for Down syndrome children.
The foundation has recently helped develop a two-year course at Torrens University for people with Down syndrome to study and transition to workplaces, partnering with companies such as JB Hi Fi, Powercor, Sodexo and Melbourne Sports centres.
Sayers said Australia was a rich and fortunate country but still had the “second lowest OECD employment status for people with disabilities”, which must be improved to provide more people meaningful opportunities.
“Alle lives with us, walks to the train, jumps on the train, goes into Flinders St, walks across to Torrens University, has coffee with her mates, goes to class, comes home,” Sayers said proudly.
“She’ll have a meaningful job, she’ll be fiercely independent, and we’re super proud.”
In the public eye
When Sayers arrived at a local cafe to talk to the Herald Sun, there was little chance of flying under the radar.
“The Blue man!” one waiter shouted, before ribbing Sayers about how much money he had made that week.
Sayers laughed and engaged in the banter. His daughter, Alle, works at the cafe and everyone seemed to know him.
But he confided that it took some adjusting to being recognised in public.
During the pandemic this took an ugly turn when rumours broke out that wealthy business leaders – including Sayers and Lindsay Fox – had been drinking with Dan Andrews before he fell down steps on the Mornington Peninsula and broke his back.
One of Sayers’s daughters was swept into the innuendo, which Sayers said was “pretty sh---y” and perhaps a symptom of tall poppy syndrome.
“It’s also just a bit of ‘Melbourne’, where everyone loves a bit of a gossip,” he said.
“People are going to make up stuff all the time, people are going to say whatever people are going to say, you just have to let it run off you.”
As a business and community leader, Sayers said he won’t shy away from politicians, and is upfront about his friendship with the Premier, whom he describes as a born leader.
“When there was no playbook, like through Covid, he was willing to just step up and step forward and lead this state through a difficult period,” he said.
“You can always look back and say, ‘oh, geez, well, we should have done that better, and should have done that better’.
“And I’m sure if Dan was here, I think he’d say the same … but wow, what a job he did, and you look at the election results, and most people in Victoria would support that.”
Drinking from a fire hydrant
Starting his own advisory and investment business, called Sayers, during the first year of a pandemic wasn’t in the playbook.
Combined with taking the reins at Carlton in September, 2021, he casually described that time as “all happening”.
“It was like drinking from a fire hydrant,” he said.
Investors in the fledgling business include the Fox family, Jayco founder Gerry Ryan, and Seek co-founder Andrew Bassat.
Some industry observers questioned how much the firm took on so early — it advises on infrastructure, federal government, wealth management, brand and marketing, strategy and deals, and technology/platforms, as well as making occasional investments — but Sayers is typically bullish and “couldn’t be happier” with his team of 100 people in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
Sayers is also firm on the benefits of working from an office for personal growth and for “all the restaurants and the coffee shops and the retail outlets” that make a vibrant CBD.
“People grow and develop and fulfil their potential when they spend time with other people,” he said.
“If they’re hidden away in their study, in their jimjams, on Zoom for 10, 12 hours a day, that’s not a good thing for mental health, it’s not good for teamwork, collaboration, or learning.”
Human interaction is a big part of Sayers’ success, along with the belief that it “doesn’t matter what you do, just be passionate about it”.
“If you’re passionate about it, you’ll run hard. You’ll enjoy it. It won’t be like work,” he said.
“I love people that are hungry and optimistic and want to have an impact … not just sit in the slipstream of life.”
Q&A WITH LUKE SAYERS
First job, and pay?
Melbourne Sports Depot (MSD), not much!
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing?
Vineyard and Chickens
Five people you’d invite to a dinner party (dead or alive) — and why?
My amazing wife Cate
Elon Musk
Wayne Gretzky (best ice hockey player ever)
Ada Lovelace – born 1815, often regarded as the first computer programmer
Eunice Kennedy Shriver – Founder of Special Olympics
Book everyone should read
The Happiest Man on Earth, by Eddie Jaku
If you could live anywhere in the world besides here, where would it be, and why
Italy. My wife, Cate, is part Italian and she has introduced me to the incredible food, Barolo wines, beaches and culture.
First concert, dream concert (dead or alive)
Whitney Houston (1985), Rolling Stones — would love to have seen Mick Jagger
Most inspirational living person
Dylan Alcott
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Find a passion and try to be the best in the world at whatever it is
First car, current car, dream car
First was a Datsun 200 B (brown), current is a Mini (silver), dream is anything electric and self-driving (for my afternoon siestas)
One thing people didn’t know about you/hidden talent
Great dad dancer … individually or in a group with my exceptional daughters
Best and worst birthday present you’ve ever received
Best: A telescope from my wife so I can star gaze and launch myself into other stratospheres Worst: Socks!
Rainy day TV binge
The Godfather
Song you get pumped up to
“Im too Sexy” is a family favourite
Death row last meal
A dirty martini, medium rare wagyu steak, crispy golden potatoes and Vlados special sauce, followed by a fruit crumble with cream and ice cream. Accompanied with a beautiful Barolo wine
Biggest career regret
No regrets ever
Best piece of advice you’ve received
Take adversity in your stride … just keep going!
This year I’m most looking forward to …
Singing the Carlton theme song as much as possible, culminating in a crescendo for the sweetest victory
The one thing I’d love to change about Victoria/Victorians
Not change, but encourage more Victorians to come into the city. It truly is an awakening giant of arts, sport and culinary discoveries. When our city is pumping there is no better place to be than in the middle of it
The one thing I love the most about Victoria/Victorians
Victorians are great people … we love to party, voice our opinion, cheer and support one another. We have a social conscience and we also love a good old banter and a laugh!
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