Oprah Winfrey Leadership Analysis

The workforce within any organization is the engine that keeps the business moving forward. Positive leadership, as well as effective and competent following, could be the difference between success and failure for a business. Effective leadership and followers should have a symbiotic relationship, which is the most effective way a business will meet its goals. It can be seen within Jake’s Pet Land case study that there truly is a difference between leadership styles amongst different leaders. While Philip and Jan took a different approach to being a leader, Adam’s role of the follower stayed the same. Adam continued to exemplify the best characteristics possible as a follower in order to make the business as

influenced people through his songs of the gospel genre. The leaders also have different leadership styles. Obama used a combination several leadership styles showing his compassion and versatility for the American people. Oprah is charismatic and empowered people through media.

The text book also talks about that we need to recognize the important of interactions among leaders, followers, and the situation, in order to better understand the process of leadership. Indeed, interviewee underlines the importance of situation as well as the relationship between leaders and followers, in leadership, and said that leaders need to observe and analysis the situation as well as understand followers’ attitudes and

Antecedents that influence leadership include factors such as the leader’s personality and ethics, followers’ openness, and cultural norms. Furthermore, the leader’s behaviors affect the process. For example, a leader needs to be knowledgeable regarding an organization’s goals to effectively address and handle difficult situations. A servant leader assists followers in achieving purposes. A leader treats followers fairly and respects personal values. The leader helps followers learn to make choices. An ideal outcome is a favorable effect on the followers, organization, and community. The leader can determine which needs will help followers progress and plan to meet those needs through developing programs or obtaining funding (Northouse, 2016).Servant leadership is important for management because it affects employee’s productivity. While a manager requires work to be completed and appears unconcerned if an employee has a problem, the servant leader may help a follower so he or she can work successfully. For example, although a manager may penalize an employee for arriving late, a servant leader may ask the employee what he or she needs to arrive to work on time. After the leader and the employee successfully collaborate, the effect is that the manager is appeased and the employee keeps a job. A servant leader can help employees develop a supportive community

Being nominated for the Joanne Woodard Leadership Award has been one of the highlights of my semester thus far. I am truly honored to be nominated for an award that is a demonstration of my ability to lead ethically, serve as a role model, and use my influence to advance African and African American culture on campus. Having held different positions in various campus community centers, my goal is for my leadership style to reflect the missions of the African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, and the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity.

A leader must listen to its followers and vice versa. Both Gardner and Wooden in their books provide examples that both ineffective and effective communication can affect a group or organization—for better or worse. However, through positive open communication that is produced from the group can lead to positive and effective improvement (Wooden, 2005, p.198-201; Gardner,1990, p.86) for the work environment and respectability between leader and follower.

Good communication can enhance cooperation, which is vital in management. A good manager is able to bring out the best in his subordinates and encourage them to cooperate while making sure they are efficient. Autocratic managers make decisions and relay them to their followers and don’t allow feedback. There is improper communication with autocratic managers. This improper communication hurts cooperation and cooperation is vital to a business. A business needs great communication between managers and subordinates in order to thrive and autocratic managers prevent that cooperation. Mesly is able to show this in his investigation by highlighting the feelings of frustration and suspicion between the managers and followers. These feelings disrupt communication and overall effectiveness( Mesly,2011). This study was able to show how important it is to be open and able to connect to your followers emotionally as a manager. I believe that Mesly’s findings are really important and should be considered when one is in a managerial role. Being diplomatic and engaging with your followers and seeing what their needs are seems to be a far more effective way of managing than the autocratic manager.

The concept of followership is crucial to the leadership process today. In the past, followers were not viewed as important whatsoever. They were viewed as puppets that had no potential to make a change. In the new paradigm, followers are just as important as leaders. There are several behavioral styles of followers: alienated, conformist, pragmatists, passive, and effective.

Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex

Followers help leaders manifest their vision. Successful followers (supporters or team members) come in a wide variety of personal characteristics. There are people who may be good followers who do not make good leaders or even want to be leaders, but there are no good leaders who are not good followers. A good leader was once a follower. Without followers there is no leadership in any organization. Leaders can develop effective followers as followers develop effective leaders. The performance of followers and leaders of an organization are variables that depend on one another. Both roles are proactive together they can

It is essential for business leaders to have excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills, as leaders are often a symbol of a company’s integrity and this affects not only how customers perceive the company, but also impacts the thoughts and actions of lower positioned employees. For example, a leader that speaks using improper grammar, or writes correspondence with spelling errors throughout it, could project a negative image that can be harmful to a company. Customers might conclude that the leader is incompetent and they might decide that they do not wish to purchase goods from a company that hires inept leaders. Furthermore, employees might become less apt to respect an authority that appears to be uneducated, as well as employees might feel that if the leader disregards using proper communication than it is not necessary for them to use it either. Business leaders need to know when to listen, when to talk, and how to share ideas effectively. Clear and concise communication states exactly how, who, what, and when and serves to guide, direct, protect, persuade, and to inform. Communication is essential for decreasing miscommunications and for increasing productivity, motivation, and efficiency. When someone uses effective communication, he or she is more apt to have favorable results and his or her requests will become granted more often. Furthermore, communication builds goodwill. Having excellent communication skills is

This case study is an analysis of leadership as exhibited by Rebecca S. Halstead. The article published at Harvard Business School by Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell details the traits, motivations and leadership style that Halstead exemplified. Through the analysis of this article I hope to not only document the achievements of Rebecca Halstead but also document and assimilate the leadership lessons imparted by her. An important observation I have made from the progress of time I this course is that study of leadership is synonymous with studying great leaders. The study of science involves experiments & making observations based on results. However, leadership is not an absolute science, there are various approaches. Every leader has a different style & combination of traits. Aspiring leaders & scholars of leadership must find their individual combination to succeed.

“Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, political or religious leader, except perhaps the pope.”

Oprah is a successful business person. But she is different from other business icons. “I don’t think of myself as a businesswoman,” she says. From hosting a talk show to acting, Winfrey grabbed every opportunity she believed was necessary to help more people. She states, “The reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, ever for one minute been money”. As one of the most powerful people in the world, she is the source of inspiration and strength to many people. Her passionate personality brought her fame. Winfrey leads from the heart by making connection with others. She is not afraid of being real by sharing her own experience, including her setbacks and mistakes, to motivate others.

Chapter one portrays the importance on followers and provides some insight and labels different types of followers. Riggio et al (2008), provides examples on the various styles of individuals as followers, for instance, the sheep, the yes-people, the alienated, the pragmatics, and the star followers. Furthermore, these classes of followers provide a better understanding to leaders on why one performs in an organization.