Authentic and Transformational Leadership on the Oprah Winfrey Example

Despite some minor criticisms, Oprah Winfrey remains to be one of the most influential women in the society of today. Her life represents or portrays nothing either than ambitions, hard work, determination, perseverance, and most, or above all, leadership ties (Wergin, 2007, p. 36). As a real role model, Oprahs life story presents an opportunity to all building leaders with experiences to emulate, lessons to learn, steps to follow, ideas to improve, and mistakes to avoid (Porterfield & Kleiner, 2005, p. 56). Indeed, this is not to say Oprah Winfrey remains spotless, she has made mistakes, but so have the rest of us. Now that she is an authentic leader making mistakes and learning from them is her significant boost (Garson, 2011, p. 58).

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Success Takes Time

As one of the highest paid female celebrity, Oprahs fame did not come instantly. Indeed her show, The Oprah Winfrey show took years of building to be what it is today (Illouz, E., 2009, p. 127). The story of the Oprah Winfrey show started after she had graduated. In her first professional careers, Oprah Winfrey was scheduled to handle updates for the local news that would air during the Good Morning American shows (Marsh, & Tindall, 2010, p. 332). She handled her role perfectly, and WJZ- Tv, Baltimore (where she worked) decided to move her to the morning talk show named Baltimore is talking, a show she co-hosted with Richard Sher (Shattna, 2014, p. 362). Oprah Winfrey spent about seven years on the "Baltimore is talking" show before moving to on to ABC in 1984, together with her producer Debra Demario (Glynn & Dowd, 2008, p. 86). She later moved to Chicago and took over as the anchor of ABCs A.M. Chicago (Gachtes, Nesendo, Rennes, & Seften, 2012, p. 958). She managed to bring up the ratings of the show from the last position to the first. She even edged off Phil Donahne, a national talk show host during the time (Beneridge, 2013, p. 231; Peck, 2015, p.93).

The show was later renamed as the Oprah Winfrey Show and was expanded to one hour (Barnard, 2004, p. 89). After the success of the movie, Color Purple in which she starred, Oprahs popularity and that of her show increased significantly to what it is today. Indeed, it did not happen overnight, but it took some leadership efforts. Leadership and success take time and patience. Anything that is rushed is surely not bound to succeed (Wergin, 2007, p. 31). Oprah should thereby uphold this trait she has been showing in her leadership; hence, almost everyone will emulate.

The Power of Influence

To be a leader, an individual must have the ability to control or influence others. Oprah Winfrey does this with such an admirable finesse. It appears that everywhere she goes and everything she does changes peoples lives (Beneridge, 2013, p. 238). Nearly all products that have appeared on her show, such as books that have been reviewed in her book club have reported significant increment in sales from the moment the show gets off the air. The otherwise might happen for certain products that Oprah knowingly or unknowingly dislikes (Maccoby, 2003, p. 79). On one incidence, Oprah was having a discussion on mad cow disease (Shattna, 2014, p. 358). At the middle of the show, she made a seemingly harmless comment, "it has just stopped me cold from eating another burger." This seemingly innocuous statement caused the prices of cattle to drop significantly, and beef producers made losses of millions of dollars. Eventually, Oprah was sued by the Cattle farmers and beef producers, although she won the case (Northouse, 2011, p. 109). This event thereby goes ahead to point at the Power of Influence. Oprah demonstrated her power of influence over on the entire public, as well as any particular industry. In proves how well a leader can be influential to his/her subjects, hence a recommendation for an improved leadership influence over the majority (Garson, 2011, 62).

To be a competent leader, one has to learn the art and use of influential power for the purposes that are not only profitable but also charitable and philanthropic (Burns, 2004, p. 12). This act will help leaders to gain both respect and recognition; hence, gaining the trust of the development or managerial partners, subjects, as well as those who work under them (Beneridge, 2013, p. 235). Oprah Winfrey has succeeded in putting her fame and fortune into usages with which the rest of the world will remember her. Her success can be shown by her book club to her school, the "Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (Nagle, 2007, p. 124). All these efforts and fruitful initiatives are simply due to her leadership power of influence, which should be emulated by the rest of the world (Gachtes, Nesendo, Rennes, & Seften, 2012, p. 963).

The Morality Question

Making the right decision is quite a huge challenge, but making the most appropriate moral challenge is even much a bigger challenge (Lowe, 2001, p. 108). As a leader, individual leaders are often confronted by tough decision-making situations, which may oblige them to go against what many people may perceive to be moral (Porterfield & Kleiner, 2005, p. 49). Therefore, it takes a brave and competent leader to look beyond the peripheries of morality hence visualize the future impacts of the decision they will have to make (Lofton, 2011., p. 57).

When Oprah Winfrey started out, she was faced with the challenge of deciding on what to talk about to keep the audience attentive. Most people always love to hear what they perceive to be the truth, those hard-hitting questions, those things that a leader may not prefer to talk about publicly (Beneridge, 2013, p. 232). For instance, the questions about teenage sex, abortion, gay rights, gender violence, child abuse and molestation (Barnett, 2007, p. 154). With this knowledge of public interest in mind, Oprah was able to connect to the simple men and women who had once or twice gone through such societal evils or vices. Hence, making this group of people feel and believe that they are never alone in their suffering and sad moments (Maccoby, 2003, p. 73). For Oprah Winfrey, working under ABC did not offer her the freedom that she deserved. She wanted to talk about the topics that she felt needed to be talked about (Westen, 2005, p. 87). ABC restrictions and policies meant that topics that were considered to be slightly in the wrong and of morality and could not be discussed.

On the August of 1986, Oprah formed her Company "Harpo Inc." Through this company, she could now produce topics of her choosing. These topics included a television mini-series The Women of Brewster place, in which she featured (Gachtes, Nesendo, Rennes, & Seften, 2012, p. 959). She also owned the screen rights to the autobiography of Mark Mathabone, titled Kaffir Boy, which mainly talked about life in South Africas apartheid policy (Magubane, 2007, p. 383). Therefore, it takes a competent leader to get out of his/her own way to see that targets set first are achieved, notwithstanding the moral implications as long as what he/she is undertaking remains within the confines of the law (O'Neil, 2004, p. 67).

The Value of Listening and Caring

Part of the reason why Oprah Winfrey is such an exceptional leader is that she developed the skills of listening (Illouz, 2009, p. 118). As human beings, we are of the emotional kind, and through sharing our problems, we feel at ease and feel that anybody is never alone (Klenke, 2002, p. 28). Oprah Winfreys show, televised series, and outreach programs are all designed to listen, care, and provide a solution to most of the challenges faced within the modern-day society. This trait was quite evident in her post 911 shows. The show and its guests that were interviewed created a different approach to that of the leadership (Hitt, Keats, Harback, & Nixon, 2014); an approach that brought about leading and inspiration. Divergent from the anger, hate, vengeance, and war scenes that filled the air during that tempting and oppressive moment. Nonetheless, it is essential to note that although Oprah did not take a tough stance, it does not mean she condemned the attack in the strongest sense. Therefore, as a leader, one should be able to empathize and sympathize with those you care about or those affected by a given phenomenon (Shattna, 2014, p. 367; Krohn, 2008, p. 621). Leaders should listen to such people and show that they care. That way, leaders will be able to gain trust and loyalty from their subjects; hence their subjects will always follow them.

Leading by Example/Taking the Initiative

There is an old saying that every competent leader must always identify with, Lead and Let Others Follow. It is difficult and uninspiring to tell others to do what a leader himself/herself cannot do (Hsu, 2005, p. 65). However, when employees, workers, teammates, or colleagues see you take a hands-on approach, they will be motivated to work harder and put you and towards the right path to success (Klenke, 2002, p. 23).

Throughout her youth, adult, and professional life, Oprah has always been a hands on person. Her former co-host of ABC described Oprah as a practical person who wanted to be part and parcel of the making of all her shows (Miller, 2004, p. 83). Furthermore, after starting the Harpo Inc., Oprah has been involved directly in producing, directing, and even staring in the productions (Barnett, 2007, p. 157). Oprah featured in the miniseries known as The Women of Brewster place," and owned the seven rights to two novels: Beloved' and 'Kaffir Boy).

In a brief summary, the above-mentioned leadership recommendations are not magical success formula, and neither do they serve as a step-by-step recovery program. It is thereby certain that when an individual adopts the above characteristics alongside their underlying principles, he/she will serve as a perfect and effective leader. Through the reading of many books, articles, newspapers, and other for print sources so as to further explore the constitutional leadership.

References

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Lowe, J., 2001. Oprah Winfrey Speaks: Insights from the World's Most Influentia...