This paper analyzes Oprah Winfrey's leadership style based on established leadership theories. It discusses Winfrey's difficult childhood and path to success in the media industry. The paper finds that Winfrey displays traits of transformational, servant, and progressive leadership. As a transformational leader, she inspired and motivated people with a compelling vision. As a servant leader, she used her influence to advocate for victims of child abuse. Winfrey's leadership embodied principles of collaboration and creating positive change, demonstrating progressive leadership in establishing her own media network.

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Leadership in Media: An Analysis of Oprah Winfrey
by
Tezlynn Tillmon
Regent University
June 2, 2016

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Introduction
When you hear the name Oprah Winfrey many things come to mind such as:
humble beginnings, success and leadership in the media industry. Oprah Winfrey started
from the bottom in the media industry and worked her way to being the sole proprietor of
her own media network. As an individual of the female and African American persuasion
she embarked on a journey and overcame many formidable challenges to become the
media mogul she is today. This paper will set out to analyze Oprah Winfrey’s challenges
and identify her leadership style based on leadership theories established by various
scholars.
The Winfrey Story
Before she became a media mogul, Winfrey suffered a terrible childhood. She
spent her first few years on her grandmother's farm in rural Mississippi. When her
grandmother could no longer care for her, Winfrey was sent to live with her mother in a
Milwaukee boarding house, where she would grow up around extreme poverty and
experience six years of physical and sexual abuse. After enduring years of abuse until the
age of 14, Winfrey was transitioned into the custody of her father in Nashville,
Tennessee, where her path to success would begin to be paved with challenges that
developed into a thriving media career.
Leadership Analysis
Oprah Winfrey’s style of leadership is transformational. The transformational
approach is a process of leadership that changes and transforms people (Northouse 2015).
Transformational leaders provide a sense of vision and mission, they have the capability
to inspire through communication of high expectations, stimulate the use of intelligence

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for problem solving, and provide personal attention and coaching for followers. This type
of leadership is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards and long-term goals
(Northouse, 2013, pp. 185).
Oprah Winfrey truly began paving her path as a transformational leader when she
dropped out of college at 19 years old to pursue a career in broadcast
journalism. Through the action of dropping out of college she embodied the first
assumption of McGregor’s Leadership Theory Y. The first assumption posits that work is
as natural as play and that individuals inherently like to work. In fact, if given the chance
these individuals are happy to work (Northouse, 2015, pp.86).
This was the case for Winfrey, after spending a short period of time studying the
art of broadcast journalism she threw away her textbooks to become part of
broadcast journalism history. She then became Nashville’s youngest and first black
female television news anchor at WLAC-TV. She did that so well, that in 1976; at 22 she
was recruited to co-anchor the 6 pm news at WJZ-TV in Baltimore. It was with this
success that she would encounter her first opportunity in the form of a setback. Winfrey
was fired from this position and placed on the lowest rating talk show the station had
because she was deemed educationally unequipped. During the filming of an episode of
Oprah’s Lifeclass in October of 2011, in reference to her past termination Oprah stated,
““At the time, I was devastated, devastated”.
Transformational Leadership starts with the development of a vision (Burns,
1979), a view of the future that will excite and convert potential followers. The vision
may be developed by the leader, by the senior team or may emerge from a broad series of

4. RUNNING HEAD: LEADERSHIP IN MEDIA: AN ANLYSIS OF OPRAH WINFREY 4
discussions, experiences or predicaments. This challenge changed Oprah’s predicament
and gave her the proper environment that is talked about in the third assumption of
McGregor’s Leadership Theory Y. This assumption argues that the proper environment
will push individuals to engage in a wide range of goal setting and creative problem
solving (Northouse, 2015, pp. 87). It was at this moment of Oprah Winfrey’s life that she
began to step into her leadership role and planned to influence the media industry
strategically, so that she could be successful and become a household name.
Winfrey planned to take her termination/demotion and utilize it to make her way
from the bottom of the media and entertainment industry to very top. She begin letting
her personality and intellect run rapidly within her work. As she threw herself into her
work, she began to see the fruits of her labor manifest and make an impact in the media
and entertainment industry. Once Winfrey was placed in the lowest ranking show that
WJZ-TV had, she began implementing her plans and the radio show began to pick up to
the point that it became the station’s highest ranking show within a year. From this point
in her life she started building her credibility nationally, Winfrey starred in Steven
Spielberg’s The Color Purple, established her nationally syndicated talk show, created
her own film company called HARPO, Inc. and participated in an ABC-TV miniseries.
Through the previously stated accomplishments of Oprah Winfrey, a strong credibility
and influential power was acquired to make a difference in lives of children.
Servant leadership starts with the hard work, experience and elevation of an
individual who wishes to do well unconditionally and impact the lives others. This type
of change and development is purposed to improve the quality of life for those who are
less fortunate or in need. Servant leadership was first discovered and academically

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introduced to society by a scholar named Robert Greenleaf. Based on the academic
discoveries of Robert Greenleaf, (1977) there are two requirements for leadership to
classified as one dealing with servitude: “The people served grow as individuals,
becoming 'healthier, wiser, more autonomous and more likely themselves to become
servants. The extent to which the leadership benefits those who are least advantaged in
society (or at least does not disadvantage them) (Theletsane, 2015, pp. 166-167).
Winfrey displays servant leadership by establishing a credibility that provided her
with the power of influence concerning children who were or had the potential to be
victims of sexual abuse due to the lack of information or systems set up to protect them.
Winfrey used her nationally syndicated talk show that consistently reached millions of
viewers to urge her audience to take action against child predators. She steadily educated
her audiences on the dangers of child predators, child pornography and sexual abuse.
This led the initiation of the National Child Protection Act in 1991, when she testified
before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to establish a national database of convicted
child abusers. On December 20, 1993, the "Oprah Bill" was signed into law.
In 2005, Oprah launched Oprah’s Child Predator Watch List and her pledge to
provide a $100,000 reward per case to those individuals whom the FBI or local law
enforcement officials say provided critical information leading to the capture and arrest
of fugitives featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show or Oprah.com. According to (Since its
launch, nine of the featured fugitives have been captured. This sharing of information is
an example of how the people who are served (the children) were given an advantage
(their endangerment was publically broadcasted), allowing them to grow and thrive as
healthy (psychologically and physically) individuals.

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After this amazing accomplishment and powerful display of her influence in the
media industry, Oprah Winfrey founded multiple companies, campaigned for President
Barack Obama, concluded her nationally syndicated talk show and started her own media
network entitled Oprah Winfrey Network. All of Winfrey’s accomplishments and
transitions are a positive example of progressive leadership. According to Haber (2011),
progressive leadership is a perspective that challenges the traditional leader-centric
approaches to leadership. While Winfrey is at the center of creating the shows and ideas
for the OWN network, she has not made herself the center of the network. She has
created several different shows and run various segments that can be classified in
different categories of industries. Winfrey is a progressive leader in the sense that she
has dabbled in several types of leadership and changed the way things work based on her
knowledge and resources. Progressive leadership is branded by the following principles:
• Leadership is an action or process, not a person or a position.
• Leadership is relational, with a focus on building relationships and collaboration.
• The intention of leadership is creating a positive change in something beyond oneself.
• Leadership has a moral and ethical dimension.
• Leadership involves the interconnected levels of individual, group, and system
Progressive leadership speaks to the leadership challenges facing our organizations and
society today, and it is through embracing these perspectives on leadership that real,
significant, and sustainable change can take place and organizations and industries can
thrive (Heifetz et al., 2009).
Conclusion

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Based on research and analysis Oprah Winfrey has embodied the theories of
transformational, servant and progressive leadership. She has also embodied the three
assumptions of McGregor’s Leadership Theory Y and in doing so made a huge impact on
the media/entertainment industry. Through formidable challenges and failures she paved
the way for women in general and women of various ethnicities to come into broadcast
journalism or business or television and make their mark. She proved, by aligning with
the previously stated theories, that an individual can be a leader in various ways and build
an empire through the practices of effective leadership and hard work.
References:
Burns, J.M. 1979. Leadership. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
Greenleaf, R. 1977. Servant leadership, Paulist Press
Haber, P. (2011). PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP: Models and Perspectives for
Effective Leadership. In K. Aagard (Ed.), Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations:
A Reference Handbook (pp. 312-320). San Diego, CA: University of San Diego.
Heifetz, R. A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive
leadership. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2016, from http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-
lifeclass/oprahs-dream-for-herself-video

8. RUNNING HEAD: LEADERSHIP IN MEDIA: AN ANLYSIS OF OPRAH WINFREY 8
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Oprah Calls for Action Against Child Predators. (1990). Retrieved June 24, 2016,
from http://www.oprah.com/pressroom/Oprah-Calls-for-Action-Against-Child-
Predators?_escaped_fragment_=#!
Theletsane, K. (2015, June 22-23). Dynamics of leadership, issues, trends and
options. The Business and Management Review, 6(3), 166-167.