The Way To Success Of Oprah Winfrey
Acknowledged as an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, Oprah Winfrey is one of the most influential woman in the world, appearing on top of millions of opinion-makers lists internationally. The “Queen of All Media” didn’t allow for her past of sexual abuse, poverty, parental neglect, and racism to dictate her future success as the richest African-American woman in the world, currently worth $2.9 billion (according to Forbes). Her natural appeal to the common good and captivating nature to follow her instincts has allowed her to take over the entertainment industry, through means of her own production company, Harpo Inc.
Designated CEO of Harpo Productions, Oprah was able to govern every aspect of her multi-award-winning talk show, known as The Oprah Winfrey Show. Drastically, this influenced Oprah to further advance and dominant the media industry, gradually leading the way towards pursuing her most recognized business ventures as a worldwide accomplished entrepreneur and shaping the lives of many in accordance to their day-to-day lifestyle. It is within every successful entrepreneur, the desire to seek love and validation in the work that they do.
By the age of three, Oprah was referred to as “the little speaker”, as her ability to recite poems and Bible verses in nearby churches captivated the attention of many. Becoming an honour student in her teenage years, Oprah continually flourished in her love for public speaking, winning several prizes for oratory recitation, and earning a full time scholarship to Tennessee State University, where she majored in speech and performing arts. Oprah’s many accomplishments at such a young age cultivated her Devotion towards the work she has accomplished in her overall career, ultimately developing her media platform around the Dream she has always envisioned.
Oprah’s ability to implement her dreams into a reality came prevalent, as her sense of direction lead her to successfully characterize her entire network around self-help and women empowerment. Her High Adversity Quotient enabled her to overcome her failure of being fired from a co-anchor position of the evening news at a major Baltimore TV station, from there only working minimal jobs, until finding her true niche perfectly suiting her charismatic personality.
In 1977, Oprah bounced back, co-hosting her first talk show, “People are Talking”. The show became an instant success throughout all of Baltimore, threatening Phil Donahue’s nationally syndicated talk show, Oprah’s biggest competitor. Her high Determination to succeed allowed for her failures to only become a new step towards her next venture and competition to only be more motivation for inspiration and new perspective. Flourishing the Baltimore market, Oprah’s success attracted the attention of many, particularly A.M. Chicago, a well-known cooking show.
Knowing fairly little about the preparation of food, Oprah’s apprehensive notion to assume an unfamiliar role in the US’s third largest media market, entrailed her to Recognize this as an Opportunity rather than a risky situation. Oprah’s Risk Taking ultimately paid off, anchoring yet another talk show which had instantly captivated the recognition of 120 cities daily, surpassing Phil Donahue in the ratings, and eventually being renamed in 1985, The Oprah Winfrey Show. A year later, Oprah’s show was broadcasted nationally, becoming the number one talk show in national syndication. Several awards were given all on the basis of an Outstanding Talk/Service Program, Outstanding Host and Oprah given the title of “Broadcaster of the Year”.
Exploiting new opportunities for success, Oprah formed Harpo Productions Inc, not only acquiring total ownership of “The Oprah Winfrey show”, but also Strategically Extending her Brand in the production of films, radio broadcasting, magazine and book publishing, online media, and additionally co-founding in Oxygen Media Inc., a cable network for women. Oprah clearly possesses the ability to Recognize Opportunities as her integration with the environment has controlled her Destiny of success in dominating the media industry.
Her strong Internal Locus of Control swayed her to refuse numerous offers to indulge in business collaborations with other companies, thereby allowing her to control every decision made by solely owning every aspect of her company with no external investments. Her promotion with either a film, product, book, or lifestyle would merely be associated with the love and desire she possessed to broadcast such material, rather than the Dollars that came with it. In light of mastering her self-promotion abilities, Oprah has as well strategically Distributed the ownership of her company by hiring and collaborating with a great pool of talent, enriching the content and products she delivers to her customers.
Collaborating with mentor Dr.Phil, designer Nate Berkus, personal finance expert Suze Orman, and employee Adam Glassman, her creative director for “The Oprah Magazine”, has deemed it essential for the development and success of her company. Thereby in association with numerous counts of the media, from launching O, The Oprah Magazine, Oprah.com, home to one of the largest Book Clubs in the world, personally publishing five books, acting and filming in several made-for-TV movies, and of course indulging in the creation of The Oprah Winfrey Foundation to support the equality, education and healthcare of all individuals worldwide, Winfrey created a media sensation.
Oprah recognized the need for Customer Development and appreciation by implementing her giveaway strategy as a way of intriguing her fellow and future viewers, and creating a sense of commotion and potential need to be incorporated in some way with her company and brand. Through offering generous gifts to her viewers, Oprah simultaneously created an opportunity to appeal to a greater studio audience, by listening to them and even integrating them in her shows.
Evidently, Oprah’s great success was merely not an accident or measure of luck, but pure desire to implement her vision amongst the entire media industry. Merely obtaining a position as a talk-show host was not enough for Winfrey, as she ventured throughout the world of business, strategically incurring every opportunity possible to acquire dominance and personally shape American culture. Her profound influence over the way people go by their day-to-day lifestyle of dieting, eating, reading, and moreover collection of thoughts regarding themselves and the world around them, has deemed to make her the wealthiest woman in show business, possessing a $415 million empire by the end of 1990s.
Even Oprah’s largest competitors have never gotten the best of her network, due to her indifferent approach to empathize with people and their real-life problems and her strategically devotion to reach her dream through entrepreneurial intelligence. The efficiency and effectiveness of her key ventures as a nationwide entrepreneur have gave way through her recipe for success: "Follow your instincts," she says in a Ladies Home Journal magazine article, "That's where true wisdom manifests itself".
