“You don’t become what you want;

You become what you believe.”

OPRAH WINFREY
Personality analysis in OB Perspective

Salai Selva Rani M

Amrita School of Business, Kochi
 CONTENTS
Early Life – Pg. 1

Career - 1

Oprah Winfrey – A Phenomenon - 2

Oprah Winfrey – SWOT Analysis - 3

When What Why and How - 4

Discrimination - 5

Winfrey’s MBTI Type - 6

Big Five Personality Types - 7

Winfrey as a Manager – 8

Winfrey’s Leadership - 9

Winfrey’s Motivation - 10

What I Take away from her? - 10

Bibliography - 11
Early Life
Oprah Winfrey was born on 29 January 1954 in Kosciusko, rural Mississippi. Her single mother
was a house maid who out of financial desperation sent her away at a very young age. Living
with her grandmother till 6, little Oprah learned to read and write and developed an
extraordinary talent of oratory – she was called “The Preacher” because of her ability to recite
Bible.
After briefly living with her mother, Oprah was again sent away, this time with her so called
biological father, Vernon Winfrey, a coal miner in Nashville, Tennessee. She had a tormented
childhood as she was juggled back and forth. When Oprah was back again living with her
mother she was molested and abused by her very close relatives. She became pregnant at 13
and her premature child died at birth.
Oprah, undeterred, attended Lincoln High School, Milwaukee. After success in the Upward
Bound (federal funded educational program), she was sent to Nicolet High School where she
was the brightest. She stole money and grew a bad temperament as she was constantly
ridiculed at school for her poverty. Her frustrated mother sent her back to Vernon.
Vernon, a strict father, made her education a priority. Young Oprah became an honours
student, was voted most popular girl in Nashville High School, was placed second in nation in
dramatic interpretation speech contest. This secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State
University where she studied communications.

Career
At 17, winning the Miss Black Tennessee, she was offered to do a news part-time by a
local black radio station – WVOL. This kick started Oprah’s media career. She went on to work
in the local media – WLAC TV Nashville, where she was the only black female and the youngest
anchor. In 1976 Oprah moved to Baltimore WJZ TV where she worked lower position jobs.
Later in 1978 she was recruited by Richard Sher as co-host for local talk – People are Talking.
She also hosted Dial for Dollars.
After working in WJZ for 5 more years, Oprah relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV’s
low rated morning talk show AM Chicago. Within months of her taking over, the talk show
surpassed many leading talk shows and became the highest rated talk show in Chicago. She
made a syndication deal with King World Productions Inc., renamed her program as The
Oprah Winfrey Show and broadcasted it nationally for one hour beginning at 8 September
1986. It had a sensational success as a result of Oprah’s sharpness, brilliance and because she
was better attuned to her audience. In mid 90s Oprah transformed her show from a tabloid
oriented approach to cover broader and less discussed topics. This kept the ratings of her
show at the top as the audience related better with the talk show guests. Her prime-time
interview with Michael Jackson in the year 1993 remains the most watched interview ever
with 36.5 million viewers.
Apart from her successful talk show, Oprah also produced and co-starred television
miniseries – The Women of Brewster Place founding her own production house Harpo
Productions in 1989. Apart from hosting and producing talk shows, Oprah also co-founded
the women’s cable television network – Oxygen by the year 2000. In 2008 Discovery Inc.,
collaborated with Oprah and renamed their Discovery Health Channel as OWN- Oprah
Winfrey Network which was subsequently launched in 2011.
The Oprah Winfrey Show was the most successful part of her career and was one of
the longest aired talk shows in American Television history. The series finale aired on May 25
2011. She also owns the Oprah Radio were highlights of her show are also aired.
Oprah co-starred in Steven Spielberg’s movie “The Colour Purple” and was nominated
for the Academy Awards. She was also part of critically acclaimed movies like “Beloved”,
“Their Eyes Were Watching God”. She has also voiced in movies like “Charlotte’s Web”, “Bee
Movie”, “The Princess and the Frog” and narrated the BBC’s documentary “Life”.
Oprah Winfrey also holds the record of world’s highest book advance fee for her
weight loss book in 2005. She published her memoir “The Life You Want” in 2017. She
continues to publish her magazine “O, The Oprah Magazine” which was called the most
successful start-up in the industry by Fortune in 2002 and has been successful ever since.
Oprah Winfrey’s Company created oprah.com that provides resources, interactive
content about her talk show, book clubs, magazines, charities averaging 70 million page views
and 20000 mails a week. She initiated “Oprah’s Child Predator Watch List” through which
many child abusers and molesters have been captured.

Oprah Winfrey – A Phenomenon

She is remarked
as “the world’s most
influential and powerful
women” by CNN and
Times.com. She was
probably only one who
has appeared in TIME’s
"one of the 100 people
who most influenced
the 20th Century" for
more than 10 occasions.
In 2010, Life magazine
named Winfrey one of
the 100 people who
changed the world,
alongside such
luminaries as Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Winfrey was the
only living woman to make the list. According to Gallup's annual most admired poll, Americans
consistently rank Winfrey as one of the most admired women in the world. In 1989, she was
 accepted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame. In 2000, she was awarded the Spingarn
Medal from the NAACP.
“The Oprah Effect” was very visible when her opinions and endorsements changed the
way people perceived something be it a product or a concept. And hence it was pure Oprah
Effect when LGBT people were accepted into mainstream and were made socially equal to
any others. She gave them more dignity and showed to the mainstream society how they
were no different from the so called normal beings.
Through “Oprahfication”, a term coined to Oprah using public confession as form of
therapy, she popularized “rapport talk” contradicting the traditional “report talk”. She made
her audience care for the feelings of her guests because she cared. The guests and their
confessions were perceived by the public as that of a family member’s because of Oprah’s
warmth, intimacy, easy body language, cheerful sensuality and personal confession.
She is considered a postmodern priestess – a church-free spiritual icon. She
transformed her talk show topics to more inspirational and emphasized on uplifting and
motivating the needy. Her motivation was visible when her viewers sprang into action –
opening orphanages, creating charities, uplifting the African-Americans. She was identified as
one of the most generous American and donated around $400 million to educational causes.
“Oprah Angel Network” was a charity she started and promoted through her shows which
funded many NGOs worldwide for helping the needy. During her visit to South Africa, Oprah
witnessed the plight of children affected by poverty, AIDS and other deadly diseases. She built
a free school through the Oprah Angel Network with state-of-art facilities in Johannesburg for
them and meet them every year through satellite. Many call her “The African Mother
Goddess”. She founded the self-help program “The Secret” according to which people can
transform their lives through positive thoughts or vibrations which will then cause them to
attract more positivity and result in good things happening to and around them.

STRENGTH WEAKNESS
Educated at an early age As a young women sought approval from
Oratory Skills others
Determination Had inner fears and Self-doubt
Ability to connect with people Continued to tolerate abusive relationships
Leadership qualities
Witty and Smart

THREATS OPPURTUNITIES
African American Female in a male dominated Miss Black Tennessee Beauty Pageant
field “The Colour Purple” movie
Molested as child The Oprah Winfrey Show
Competitors’ talk shows Oprahfication
Business failures Business Syndications and Start-up
 • 1968
• 1981

WHEN • 1985
• 1986
• 1993

• Premature Son died at birth

• Part-Time News host - Career begins
• The Colour Purple - Nominated to

WHAT Academy Awards

• 'AM Chicago' host later became The
Oprah Winfrey Show
• Prime Time Interview with Michael
Jackson

• was molested from the age of 9

• Won Miss Black Tennessee Beauty
Peagant

WHY • Played the role of a distraught housewife

to perfection
• Program surpassed the famous Donahue
show ratings
• Had not given an interview for over 14
years.

• Was not mothered well

• Through hard work and determination in
school

HOW • Used the role as platform to confront

her fears and self doubt
• Her ability to connect with people and
uderstand their feelings
• Candid interview - made the King of Pop
talk about his childhood and life
Discrimination
Racism

Oprah Winfrey was born in the mid-50s in America as women of colour. She was an
African-American and was born to a house maid who had meagre wages. Her was not even a
lower middle class family but a deprived one. In America the racist discrimination was at its
peak when Oprah was born. The people of colour, called offensively called the niggers, where
treated like slaves and were not admitted into schools or colleges. They were merely
employed as physical labourers, not giving equal career opportunities like the white, and were
paid very little.
One incident from Oprah’s life that can be quoted to show the burning racism she
faced was the way she was treated in her high school. Oprah, one of the brightest in her class,
was constantly ridiculed for being a black. She had to take a bus to her school daily and hence
her rich classmates refused to sit next to her or even talk to her.

Sexism and Sexual Harassment

Gender inequality is still a persisting problem in the US. Though it has diminished in
the years, it was very high when the world was reclining from the second world war. Oprah
being a African- American women was denied several opportunities at her first workplace
WLAC TV. She was forced to work low position jobs for five years in WJZ. Though one of the
talented speakers she was allocated a low rated, unimportant TV show in her next job at the
WLS TV Chicago which she steered to unimaginable success as The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Sexual harassment was one other nightmare in the Lifebook of Oprah. Being uncared
for her mother, she was vulnerable. She was first abused by her cousin, her babysitter at age
of 9. She was constantly abused sexually by her mother’s friends, neighbours and was
threatened with her life her in case she spoke up. Getting pregnant at age 13, delivering a
baby at 14 and losing him immediately after birth were the horrible tween years Oprah had.

Child Abuse

She treated very badly in her toddler years. Her mother sent her away to live with her
strict grandmother. Oprah once recalled, she would be beaten regularly and brutally by her
grandmother. In a lecture series at Bell State University, she recalled a time that her
grandmother punished her for putting her fingers in a bucket of water she had retrieved from
the well. “She whipped me so badly that I had welts on my back and the welts would bleed,”
she said, which then stained her good Sunday dress. “So then I got another whipping for
getting blood on the dress.”

Size Bias

Initial days of Oprah’s career saw a big smash as she was constantly dropped from
programs for her overweight physique. She was considered ugly and unworthy of being a
proper host of any program as the field of entertainment had harsh zero size beauty standards
for women. Oprah was even recently subjected to size bias in 2013 when she was shopping
in Switzerland and a shop assistant denied to show her apparel and a crocodile skin handbag
saying “too expensive don’t bother”.

Winfrey’s MBTI Type

Oprah Winfrey’s MBTI personality type can be concluded as follows.

ENFJ – The Protagonist

ENFJs are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. They are oftentimes our
politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to
do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, ENFJs take a great deal
of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their
community. (ENFJ stands for Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling and Judging. )

Oprah – Firm Believer in People

She radiates authenticity, concern and altruism, unafraid to stand up and speak when
she feels something needs to be said. This can be observed watching her many talk shows
where she has been frank and bold in
expressing her views. During the early
2000 when the society pushed away the
LGBT community, Oprah voiced her
open support to them, by inviting
famous LGBT guests, interacting with
them. In each of these shows people
understood the real sufferings of these
outcast people and made every one of
her audience empathetic to their plight.
This brought about the much needed
social acceptance for the LGBT
community.
Being an ENFJ, she finds it natural
and easy to communicate with others,
especially in person, and her Intuitive
(N) trait makes her reach every mind, be it through facts and logic or raw emotion. The
interest she has in others is genuine, and at times she becomes too involved in the other
person’s problems, place too much trust in them. Luckily, this trust tends to be a self-fulfilling
prophecy, as her altruism and authenticity inspire those she cares about to become better
themselves. She has brought about a major change in how people confront the worst parts
of themselves. She has taught us that sharing could cure one’s deepest injuries and public
sharing or confession could treat the guilt. She not only has brought about a change in lives
of the many guests she has spoken to, but also her audience. Her empathy is one major trait
that shaped Oprah Winfrey though her tough years.
 She can also easily see people’s motivations and seemingly disconnected events, and
are able to bring these ideas together and communicate them as a common goal with an
eloquence that is nothing short of
mesmerizing. She is not only the most ENFJs are genuine, caring people who talk
famous philanthropist but also a
the talk and walk the walk, and nothing
famous motivational speaker. She is a
natural leader and has guided almost makes them happier than leading the
every single person who has come in charge, uniting and motivating their team
contact with her, either directly or with infectious enthusiasm.
indirectly to better themselves.

Big Five Personality Types

Extraversion - HIGH– She has always been a people’s person. She is emotionally
expressive and has unmatched interpersonal skills. Millions of viewers loved Oprah on-screen
as she was enthusiastic, optimistic and outgoing. Her empathy for others made her guests
comfortable and they felt an emotional connection with her. She always had a special feeling
about the less fortunate. Her philanthropy works proves the way she truly cares for everyone
around her. Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for South African girls is one classic example
of her social nature.

Conscientiousness - HIGH– Oprah is naturally a leader because of her persistence,

hard work, discipline and inner drive. She has always lived the talk and has always stood up
against the evils of the society. She is the owner of her talk show, the production house
HARPO and channel OWN. This has achieved through great hard work and determination.
Even after starting her own production house, magazine, channels, Oprah did not stop her
talk show.

Openness to Experience - HIGH – Oprah has never shunned away from any
challenge. Or simply in her life full of hardships and challenges, Oprah has always faced each
of it with immense courage. She has always been open and ready to challenges. She likes to
experiment with herself. She is an actor, talk show host, motivational speaker, producer,
teacher, philanthropist. She has no reservations when it comes to completing a task

Agreeableness - MEDIUM – When it comes to agreeableness Oprah would score

neither high nor low. She is agreeable to those people she truly cares about and to those
whom feels emotionally connected. She is compliant and conforming to those who she
identifies to be good and right. She does not shy away from speaking up when she finds
herself in contradiction with others especially when she thinks the other person is wrong. She
once refused to interview a Republican candidate because she had voiced her open support
to the Democratic Party in US elections.

Emotional Stability – MEDIUM – Oprah is not a very emotionally strong person,

at least not in her younger years. She has been growing stronger in the years to come, but in
her youth she was so weak. She has a history with drugs and alcohol. She once stated that
she has let herself drown in abusive relationships because she did not have the courage to let
go. She was so emotionally disturbed that she did not like herself and constantly sought
approval from people around her. But in the decades, Oprah can be seen one most optimistic
person. She has a positive feeling about almost everyone and always sees light in the dark.

Winfrey as a Manager
Oprah Winfrey landed her dream run through her exceptional technical skills. She
stood first in her high school and in passed out of her college with honours. She was a natural
because of her exceptional oratorical and communication skills. She won her scholarship to
college in a national elocution competition.
Winfrey can be looked at as a typical manager because her exceptional human and
conceptual skills. Through her talk shows and social work Oprah teaches us how important it
is to understand, communicate with, motivate, support other people not only within the
organisation but also in the society. She did not bring about Oprahfication without a thorough
understanding of other’s complex situations. Public confession as a therapy or simply
Oprahfication was her solution to complex situations in her guests’ lives. She encouraged
people to identify and confront her problems, develop solutions to rectify them and select
the best course of action.
Oprah’s networking abilities also is an important aspect to be analysed. Her million
fans feel connected to her and this enables her to achieve her goals. From celebrities like
Obama to a simple middle class fan Oprah has a wide range of supporters. Her organisations
achieve the many social works through the connections they have with people. Donations,
good infrastructure, physical support are extended by the people towards her help
organisations thus increasing the level of social work possible o a great extent. Hence Oprah
can be seen as a successful manager who spends typically most of his/her time in networking.
Improving ethical behaviour of the people around her is Oprah’s biggest ability and
goal. She constantly encourages her fans and followers to be a better person. She points out
their mistakes and gives them a reason to change to betterment. She makes it clear what is
right and what is wrong through her outspoken nature. She breaks the rules of the society to
even achieve what is ethical. Many felt obliged to meet her ethical standards as her fan and
worked with their lives to make it better in every way.
Oprah has always created a positive environment around her. She has brought
happiness in the lives of many of the needy by simply not giving them money. She has given
many the basic dignity in life – a chance to live a normal ordinary problem free life. Even with
her employees Oprah always emphasizes optimism and has rooted out negative or hard
feelings about anything or anyone, enhancing employee and social well-being all along.
Winfrey’s Leadership
Transformational and Charismatic Leadership
Transformational approach is a process of leadership that changes and transforms
people. 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 for problem solving, and provide personal attention and coaching for followers.
This type of leadership is
concerned with emotions,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zDMoj7D3b8 –
values ethics, standards and
Oprah Winfrey– A transformational Leader. Watch
long term goals.
the link to know about Oprah in 5 minutes.
Charismatic leaders act
in unique ways that have
specific charismatic effects on their followers. Charismatic leaders are strong role models for
the beliefs and values they want their followers to adopt. They are known to be dominant
and have a strong desire to influence others. They also are self-confident and have a strong
sense of one’s own moral values. Oprah’s dominance as the first woman to own her own
network broadcast changing the lives of millions of her viewers shows her charismatic
leadership. Oprah is self-confident and shares personal stories about her pain and joy.

Servant Leadership
Many think of Oprah when they think of great leaders. It may look like her as an
entertainer, but she is also a leader. She has built her brand into a business that is worth over
1 billion dollars. She is a very hands-on leader and falls into the transformational leadership
model as well as the servant leadership model.
As a Servant Leader, she encourages her followers to do their best, and helps them to
succeed even if it means they no longer stay with her organization. Servant leadership “aims
at helping followers develop into leaders in their own right rather than as parts of the work
process”. She has helped many people to develop into leaders such as Gayle King, Dr. Phil
McGraw, Nate Berkus, and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Each of these people had their own careers, but
then working with and consulting for Oprah. She then helped them to develop into leaders
in their own rights who went on to have their own television shows or appear regularly on
other shows. Oprah exhibits many of the characteristics that servant leaders have such as
being able to listen, empathize, persuade, and building a community. It is these qualities that
have enabled her to grow her business to what it has become from nothing. She also has
loyal employees with a relatively low turnover rate. One of the philosophies she lives by has
helped to achieve such great success. She is quoted as saying, “My philosophy is that not
only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the
best place for the next moment”.
Winfrey’s Motivation
Winfrey can be associated with two contemporary motivation theories – goal setting
theory and efficacy theory.
Oprah motivates her employees and her fans perform and achieve better by giving
them specific, difficult yet achievable goals and giving them constant and accurate feedback.
The basic assumptions of the goal-setting theory are that an individual is committed to his/
her goal and is determined not to lower or abandon it. But in reality very few of us stick to
our goals. Oprah ensures that her fans and employees stick to their targets by making the
game personal. She gives a sense of personal connection when she motivates people. In her
talk shows it can be apparently seen how Oprah explains a situation through her guests, sets
goals and motivates her viewers. Her fans usually don’t deter from it, as they feel a
commitment to her.
Management by objectives is the way of implementing goal-setting according to
Oprah. She does not simply spell out the motivating goals to viewers she also participates in
it. In her talk show, Oprah has made sure to share her life story as well thus motivating her
viewers to strive hard – “If I could do it, why can’t you?”. She acts as a symbolic head who
participates in an individual’s decision making towards achieving the goal.
Self-Efficacy Theory refers to an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of
performing a task. Oprah has always inspired her followers pointing out examples of high self-
efficacy people. Few examples of her guests are – Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Mattie
Stepanek who were all high efficacy people, who have reacted to the challenges and feedback
that came their way with increased effort and motivation. Oprah’s way of motivation is
actually complementing. She sets high and tough goals and thus her ardent followers see
themselves naturally as high self-efficacy individuals.
In organisational behaviour terms, Oprah achieves her combined goal-setting and Self-
efficacy theory through her vicarious modelling – showing how different individuals achieved
their heights and thus motivating the commoners to do it too; verbal persuasion – a strong
orator as she is inspiring people through her magic words; and arousal – self energised state
by showing there are sufferings worse than those of the individuals.

What I take away from her?

Being a management student I have so many lessons to pick out from Oprah’s life. Her
inspiring personality, leadership and motivational spirit are all examples how a single person
can better the society in large. The few lessons I have learnt from her Show and life are,
1. In the society we are each other's best teachers.
2. Each of us has to find our own calling. In other words, to find the purpose of one’s life.
3. I am responsible for my life.
4. We all share a common thread in the suffering and pain in our lives.
5. I am enough and capable.
6. Endings bring beginnings.
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