Background
Oprah Winfrey was born on 29th January 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She lived in poverty with her grandparents up to the age of six when she started to stay with her mother. At her early age, while staying with her mother, the girl was sexually molested by a relative. Oprah moved in with her father at the age of 14 in Nashville and lived with him until she was mature. In her teenager stage, she suffered from psychological problems due to her early poor upbringing accompanied by molestation and rape.
Among other things, In addition, she was a drug addict and moreover as a young mother she lost a baby that was born out of wedlock. Winfrey holds a BA from Tennessee State University. Currently she is a talk show host and media proprietor estimated to have a net worth of over $2.5 billion and earns a salary of about $400 million. Oprah Winfrey is regarded as a self-made billionaire (Garson 6-II).
Leadership style
Good Judgment is a key characteristic for any leader or anyone who aspires to be a leader. However, it is important to appreciate the fact that leadership has both negative as well as positive consequences and is the core of running a business. Effective leadership helps an organization when faced with a crisis. In addition, effective leadership is also important to help an organization attain its set goals and objectives. Lack of leadership within an organization may result in slow rates of growth and development, thereby making it difficult for such organizations to realize their objectives. A leader with good judgmental skills is best placed to make timely, s, and strategic decisions.
A great leader has the ability to direct people in the right direction (Griffin and Moorhead 144). Winfrey has succeeded in running a multibillion dollar business empire through good leadership skills that has made her overcome the tough times.
Oprah had a vision of what she wanted to be and put together a well organized team behind her to attain her goals. Before quitting employment to go into personal business, she had identified the needs and solutions of the contemporary. This enabled him to attract over tens of millions of viewers in the United States and globally who watch her on television stations.
Winfrey has also empowered several people both in her team of subordinates and her fans that is in her shows which are very motivating. Empowerment involves enabling others also to attain the best levels of professional development and not just managing them as resources. One such significant person who has developed under the watchful eye of Oprah Winfrey is the famous Dr Phil. His medical talk show currently comes second to Oprah’s.
Apart from competence, and connections, the ability to be of good character is significant in leadership in order to build trust with other colleagues. In a business world full of competition character is essential in effective running of the business. The leadership can only delegate other functions if there is trustworthiness in the group. The events she went through in her early life and how she was able to overcome them successfully is a great inspiration many. Oprah’s messages are delivered with consistency of theme and quality standards which effectively reach his target audience.
Conclusion
Leadership forms a crucial part of any organizations management. According to Tichy and Warren the core things one should know about making quality judgments are; a leader is judged by how much of the crucial decision that he or she makes right (16). In her lifetime so far, Oprah is such a person who has dealt with several crucial decisions on in her life. She is by all standards a good business leader as affirmed by her business empire performance with hard learnt abilities.
Works Cited
Garson,Helen. Oprah Winfrey: Westport. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print.
Griffin, Ricky and Moorhead, Gregory. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Montreal: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print.
Tichy, Noel, and Warren, Bennis. Judgment: how winning leaders make great calls. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.