21/07/2022
She became one of the richest African American of the 20th century and North America's first black multi-billionaire, has been ranked the greatest black philanthropist in American history.
Her talk show, 'The Oprah Winfrey Show', was the highest-rated television program of its kind. A woman of unbelievable resolve and great empathy, she used her natural talents, combined it with grit and resilience, making her a force to be reckoned with.
Oprah's big break was an accident. An accident which Oprah’s hard work and dedication had more than adequately prepared her to exploit. Channeling the Roman Philosopher Seneca, Oprah later characterized her lucky break by saying:
“I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.”
She was born in rural Mississippi in extremely poor conditions. In 1971, while she was still in high school, Oprah’s style and emotional delivery won her the attention of and a position with a radio station in Nashville.
In 1982, Oprah was the co-host of the local television news in Baltimore Maryland. As part of their job search efforts, one of the station’s producers created a montage tape of their work and sent it to a number of major-market stations, including WLS in Chicago. Coincidentally, one of the on-air personalities on the tape was Oprah Winfrey.
The WLS executives were immediately impressed with Ms. Winfrey and asked her to audition for A.M. Chicago, a glorified cooking show. Did Oprah know anything about preparing food on live television? Heck no. Did this slow her down? Of course not.
Oprah has unique leadership skills in terms of compassion, ethics, inspiration and justice. She has the ability inspire people because she conforms to what is right and she fights for it.
Organizational change always has to start inside the minds of your people. Once you get people to change the way they think, they’ll start doing things differently and your business strategy comes to life.
genius
winfrey
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
