1. OPRAH WINFREY: EXEMPLIFYING TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
BECKY GOODRIDGE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE
WHAT MAKES OPRAH A
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER?
WHO IS OPRAH WINFREY?
• Oprah Winfrey, known to the world as simply Oprah, is an entertainment
celebrity and a global philanthropist. Oprah was born in Mississippi in
1954. Despite her challenging childhood, she became academically
successful in high school, which led to her first job at the age of 17 reading
the news at a Nashville radio station. Oprah attended Tennessee State
University on a full scholarship, but left school to work as a reporter and
anchor for a local television station. From there, she moved to Baltimore
where she was a reporter, a co-anchor, and a talk show co-host at a
Baltimore television news channel. In 1984, Oprah relocated to Chicago to
host the television talk show, AM Chicago, which was renamed The Oprah
Winfrey Show within less than a year. As a result of the success she
brought to the show, it became a nationally broadcasted program ranking
number one among talk shows.
• In addition to hosting The Oprah Winfrey Show for twenty-five years,
Oprah is known for many additional accomplishments. She has received
many entertainment and philanthropic awards and established her own
production company and magazine publication. Early in her career, Oprah
helped initiate legislation for a national database of convicted child
abusers. She has continuously encouraged and promoted discussions on
books through her book club and recently started a leadership school for
girls in South Africa. Through her influential position, Oprah has inspired
people all over the world to engage in personal and global
transformations. As a philanthropist, she has supported and founded
many charitable organizations such as Oprah’s Angle Network, The Oprah
Winfrey Foundation, The Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program, and The Oprah
Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation.
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
1991
1993
1996
1998
1999
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2011
2012
2013
Oprah initiates the National Child Protection Act and testifies before Congress
President Clinton signs the “Oprah Bill” into law establishing a national database
of convicted child abusers
Oprah’s Book Club is launched
Oprah’s Angel Network is established
Time Magazine names Oprah in 100 most influential people of the 20th century
National Book Foundation—50th Anniversary Gold Medal (for her service to
books and authors)
54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards®—Bob Hope Humanitarian Award
Oprah initiates Christmas-Kindness in South Africa
Association of American Publishers—AAP Honors Award (given to individual outside publishing industry for significantly promoting American books & authors)
Time Magazine names Oprah in 100 most influential people in the world
(received every year from 2004 to 2011)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People—Hall of Fame
National Civil Rights Museum—2005 National Freedom Award
Oprah’s National High School Essay Contest (almost 50,000 participants)
The New York Public Library—Library Lion 2006 (warded to an outstanding
individual who makes a lasting impact on our culture)
Opens the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for girls in South Africa
The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity—2007 Humanitarian Award
Conducts 1st Web Series to discuss A New Earth (35 million views)
Pennsylvania is prompted to pass legislation to set ethical standards and
requirements at puppy mills after Oprah sheds light on issue
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award/Honorary Academy Award
Spelman College—National Community Service Award
Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
REFERENCES
•
Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformational Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
•
Oprah Winfrey Encouragement Billboard. (2014, Jan). Retrieved from Values.com:
http://www.values.com/inspirational-sayings-billboards/66-Encouragement
•
Oprah Winfrey Profile. (2014, Jan). Retrieved from Academy of Achievement:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/win0bio-1
•
Oprah Winfrey's Official Biography. (2014, Jan). Retrieved from
http://www.oprah.com/pressroom/Oprah-Winfreys-Official-Biography
•
Pearson, C. S. (Ed.). (2012). The transforming leader: New approaches to leadership for
the twenty-first century. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
• Transformational leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on
educating, inspiring, and motivating followers to promote a positive,
common outcome. Transformational leadership is not self-serving but rather
based in morality and ethical leadership. Transformational leaders embody
the vision that they are promoting, encourage leadership development
within their followers, and care about their followers’ achievements.
• Oprah Winfrey has been a public figure her entire adult life, but her
extraordinary fame is not what makes her a transformational leader. Oprah
chose to use her television platform to influence her viewers to be the best
version of themselves. She did this through transparency to her audience as
she shared her triumphs and failures in an effort to inspire her viewers to
look within themselves and strive for improvement. Oprah also took every
opportunity to enlighten and educate people by shedding light on important
issues and by starting a book club to encourage people to engage in reading.
In regard to her generous, philanthropic endeavors, Oprah not only shared
her wealth to help improve the lives of many, but also created charities and
programs through which her followers could participate to improve their
communities and the world. One such organization is the Angel Network.
• It was a little girl who inspired Oprah’s Angel Network. The girl told Oprah
that she had collected a thousand dollars in pennies to donate to different
organizations. In 1997, Oprah asked her viewers to join her in making a
difference in the world. Viewers began saving spare change and sent it to the
Angel Network. Initially, the viewer donations resulted in 3.5 million dollars
which provided $25,000 college scholarships to 150 students. Another
example the Angel Network’s impact was the 15,000 viewers who
volunteered their time and skills to help Habitat for Humanity build
hundreds of new homes for people in need. In 2000, the Angel Network
identified and gave money to over fifty community organizations that were
working to support their local community. Oprah traveled to South Africa in
2002 to help spread happiness at Christmas. Viewers, again inspired by
Oprah, donated nine million dollars to help 50,000 children in orphanages
and rural schools receive food, clothing, shoes, school supplies, books, and
toys. In 2007, Oprah’s Angel Network helped build and restore three
hundred homes that were destroyed during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As
of 2008, the Angle Network had also built sixty schools in thirteen countries.
• Oprah’s established reputation is that of morality and inspiration in our
society. Her cultural influences are far reaching and transformational. Her
daily television broadcast, The Oprah Winfrey Show, had approximately 40
million viewers each week which provided her with the leadership
opportunity to transform the lives of her followers. She continues to be
highly regarded for her qualities of transformational leadership as is evident
through invitations to speak in commencement ceremonies at schools such
as Stanford and Harvard. Oprah has made it her life’s work to improve not
only herself and the world, but to help others live their best life while they
strive to make a difference.
“Follow your instincts. That’s where true wisdom manifests itself.”
~Oprah Winfrey