Characteristics Of Oprah Winfrey Leadership

This semester, we learned specific ways to build our leadership capabilities by reading “How Remarkable Women Lead” by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston, researching Boston women leaders, interviewing a present day woman leader, and reading a group book. Throughout all of these resources and research, common themes of how to be a successful leader emerged. Not only did I learn more about leadership in general, but I also found ways to improve my own leadership without going too much out of my comfort zone. The important lessons of leading with perseverance, framing, and an activist's mindset thoroughly influenced my identity as a leader and gave me new tactics to grow as a person.

Despite the discrimination, sexism, and racism, Winfrey has always continued to be an inspirational leader. Oprah started a movement in 2010 called “No Phone Zone day” to influence drivers to avoid all distractions while driving a vehicle. She said “ I've made it my mission at the DOT to end distracted driving.” Winfrey also built a school in Africa. She attended every year of a graduating class after she made that promise to Nelson Mandela. Winfrey told one of her graduating classes “ You make me proud, and your future's so bright JCSU, it burns my eyes, go with god.” Oprah Winfrey follows a positive and inspirational way of

While living with her dad she learned discipline and learned how to use her great intelligence, from potential to kinetic use. At school she was know for her intelligent speaking and she received a scholarship at Tennessee University. She majored in broadcast communication and she scored a job as a reporter at a Nashville TV station. “Oprah left school at the age of 19 years old to become the first Afro-American woman broadcaster in Nashville (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009)”. She made various amount of mistakes at her new job, she felt exhausted all the time. The Nashville station management team didn’t like her attitude towards the camera; too, on top of that, they didn’t like her “appearance”. “They complained about her hair style, her big nose and the distance between her eyes. Tempted to glamourize her appearance, they sent her to a good salon in New York which did a disastrous remodeling that made her hair fall off (Best Inpirational Stories, 2009).

Oprah Winfrey has had an outstanding career and has emerged as the most significant female African American of her generation and those following her. From her early childhood Oprah has faced many obstacles and family distortions such as

Oprah Winfrey achieved great success in her various endeavors, growing from a news reporter in Nashville to the world-famous talk show host she is today. During the 1980s, talk shows were a crucial part of daytime television. Shows were organized based upon their content and varied greatly in subject. The popularity of talk shows led many people to enter this field, leading to a constant struggle for airtime. Oprah’s rise to fame began when she moved from her hometown in Nashville, to college in Baltimore and ultimately to Chicago, where she lives today. She appeared on an early morning television program called A.M. Chicago, which was later retitled The Oprah Winfrey Show which aired its

She came from a disadvantaged background but worked very hard to overcome poverty and discrimination. She was an honors student in high school, and she seemed to have a knack early on for public speaking. She stared on schools speech team. Winning a speech contest got her a scholarship TSU. Her talk show is broadcasted to all of America. Oprah became the richest women of the 20th century.

Oprah Winfrey is an American entrepreneur, TV show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Oprah Winfrey owns her own network called OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) and she is the chairman of Harpo Inc. She is a self-made billionaire. She is the ONLY African American female billionaire with an estimated net worth of 3.1 billion. Winfrey is the first black woman to own and run a television network, The Oprah Winfrey show was the highest rated, most seen talk show in history and was watched in 110 countries. Oprah has been honored with awards in broadcasting, including the Peabody award and the IRIS Gold Medal award and 39 daytime Emmy awards.

Oprah Winfrey’s past helped shape her into the influential person she is presently. According to achievement.org, the official website of a museum of living history in Washington D.C., Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to mother, Vernita Lee and father Vernon Winfrey. Vernita was just a teenager when Oprah Winfrey was born. Winfrey was sexually abused by several of her mother’s friends and relatives while her mother was away working. The abuse lasted from ages nine to thirteen. When Winfrey tried to run away, she was sent to a juvenile detention home, but was denied admittance because all

Oprah Winfrey grew up in a world of adversity, despite her early accomplishments as a gifted child. She began her career in 1976, when she moved to Baltimore to join WJZ-TV News. (Oprah Winfrey Biography, 2011) Her empathetic personality made her many friends, and she was invited to Chicago in 1984 to begin hosting a half-hour morning program. Within a year, she had turned the AM Chicago radio show into the most important radio show in town, and was soon expanded to a full one-hour format. During this time, Oprah struggled with the stereotype that as a black woman she would always be an assistant anchor on the news, or simply a well-spoken host of a talk show. This could not have been further from the truth, as Oprah was able to create her own format for excellence in all forms of media, not simply talk or television. The show was renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985, and kept that name for twenty-five years until she retired the show in 2010.

Before being famous Oprah Winfrey didn’t always had a good life she had a tough childhood but that didn't stop her from being famous. Oprah Struggled but she also overcame obstacles to obtain success. Born to teenage mother Oprah Winfrey lived in poverty she was so poor she had to wear dresses made of potato sacks children made fun of her. She was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend. At the age of 13 after years of being abused she ran away from her home. She became pregnant at the age of 14 her son was born prematurely and

Oprah seem to preserve through it all with a strong foundation laid by her grandmother, the encouraging and support of her dad and even with current supporter and her best friend Gayle King. Oprah once admitted during a interview with Jet Magazine to channeling the energy and spirits of her role models such as: Sojourner Truth, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and James Weldon Johnson, this helped her overcome her adversity of formative years and continue to use it as a guide in her success and fortunes as the wealthiest women in the world today.

She may be in the spotlight right now, but that was never the case with her. Oprah’s mother was a teenage mother who had her in the 1950s. She had a very troubled childhood. She was sexually assaulted by her mother’s male family members and friends. Eventually she moved to live with her dad who was a barber and a businessman. She was always told she wouldn’t ever be able to go to college not only because she was a girl but because she was black, even though girls were able to do whatever they wanted in the 70s and segregation ended in the 60s. In 1971 she attended Tennessee State and started on her school’s radio and eventually stared in her own TV program. She is another person who beat the odds. She was an African American woman in the 1960-1970s. She was continuously told she would never go to college, but against all odds, she made

Furthermore, women went from being submissive to being influential. Women have changed the world. We have some of the most powerful and influential women, who have contribute to shaping our society, for example, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey. For instance, Oprah uses TV to help the lives of many Americans; her book club attracts millions of readers and because she is a benevolent billionaire, she gives a lot of money to charity. Oprah also built an all girls school in South Africa to give the underprivileged girls in South Africa a chance to purse a higher education. Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls indicates that, “when you're

Oprah Winfrey is announcer . She was born in 1954 in Mississippi and a received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2002 and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2010 and that because she likes to help the disadvantaged and build a good world. Oprah Winfrey has qualities of leadership , generous and braveness these qualities made Oprah a queen of all media. Oprah Winfrey is leader person who never accept impossible in her life. She supported African girls by opening for them school to complete their educations . She

In today’s day and age one of the most influential women and people is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah has had a big impact on today’s society and played a huge role in advancing it. Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host, producer, actress and philanthropist who are widely respected around the world. By becoming one of the biggest names in talk show history Oprah has paved the way for others and became one of the more popular women in talk show history. Her willingness to help others and to be sure others are guided in positive light shows how much passion she has to see the greater good in others. Oprah’s biggest role comes from helping to pursue the advancement of young women and girls. Oprah has taken the time to see to it that young women are out of poverty and opening up a brand new school for underprivileged females to see to it that they have the same opportunity that children in America and other parts of the world have. Being that African- Americans, let alone women were not seen as marketable, Oprah helped to change this dynamic early in her career by using her platform in communication to open doors for other people. Winfrey’s work over a number of years is the single most evident reason why she has been able to be successful in the field of mass communication. Oprah is one of the most influential women of our time because of how well she is able to contribute to the human rights of women and advancing them in today’s society.