Oprah as a Leader
Oprah and her Leadership Styles

There are very few people on this planet that have the ability to be recognized solely by their first name and Oprah is one of them. She has been called “arguably the world’s most powerful woman” by CNN and Time.com. The American Spectator dubbed her “arguably the most influential woman in the world”. For many Oprah Winfrey is the embodiment of the American dream where the idea of economic opportunity and prosperity is attainable to anyone who would be willing to work hard and be a good citizen. Surely we have many things to learn from someone who has been able to come from a humble background to become one of the most influential women in the world.

Oprah Gail Winfrey, who was actually named Orpah after a character in the bible, was born on January 29, 1954. Her family found it difficult to properly pronounce her name and would continually pronounce the “P” before the “R”. She was born into poverty in rural Kosciusko, Mississippi to a teenage single mother and experienced considerable hardship throughout her childhood. She was initially raised by a supportive grandmother, who taught her to read at the age of three, but at the very young age of six she was sent to live with her mother in an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the age of nine she found herself sexually molested by male relatives whom continued to do so until the age of fourteen where she became pregnant but lost her son in infancy.

Oprah then moved in with her father in Nashville, Tennessee and under the stewardship of a strict father who encouraged education, she flourished. At age 17, she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant where she won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University and was offered an on-air job at WVOL, the local black radio station. She continued to work there her first years of college, but her broadcasting career was beginning to take off. She left school and signed on with a local television station as a news...