Leadership and Ethic Research: Oprah Winfrey, Gandhi

LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
A Research Project
Presented to:
Professor:
In partial fulfillment of
Requirements for
Fisher College
Sama Baroom
November 2, 2016
Introduction
There are quite a number of theories that largely describe leadership. Some of which indicate a clear cut approach to understanding the right leadership qualities. However, leadership is more than just the character and styles (Martin, 2015). In most of the cases, leaders are forced to apply more than one style in their leadership approach depending on the demand from situation at hand. While a leader may predominantly use one style, they may be required to mix up their approaches to meet the objectives and resolve current and even future challenges. Over the last more than 80 years, leadership styles have been largely revolutionized to embody the different skills and traits in the realm. At the same time, there are shifts in the society, whereby some of the characters that were once valuable to a leader are taking a back seat as the society becomes more integrated and self-aware (Martin, 2015). However, while there are quite a number of approaches of looking at leadership styles and traits, a good leader is one that is able to inspire those that he/she is working with to improve and achieve their goals. Some of the inspiring leaders though from different times, who have been quite influential are Gandhi and Oprah. These leaders are comparatively different and in some of the cases similar. Borrowing from their approach, it is possible to come up with a winning combination of quality leadership skills for an entrepreneur within the fashion industry.
Oprah Winfrey
Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi on 29th of January 1954, Oprah has had subtle successes in her career and has had influence on millions of people through her unique leadership approach. While she has experienced great success, she did not start off as influential. Growing up in a farming community, Oprah had a rough start in life. Her early childhood was on a farm with her grandmother, who helped her learn to read by the age of three. However, her life took a turn for the worst at the age of six when she was taken back by her mother who had now found work as a house maid. Some of her most vile ordeals include the fact that she was constantly abused sexually by a number of her relatives and friends to her mother. The abuses lasted between the age of nine and thirteen. After which she ran away from her mother at the age of 14 (Biography.com, 2016). Most of her teen years were filled with promiscuous episodes as she tried to survive on her own. At one point she lost a child at infancy, right before she went to Nashville in Tennessee to live with her father. This was one of the best decisions she made in her life, as she flourished under the strict care of her father. Much of her growth in character, as a person and as a leader can be traced back to age 17, when she won Miss Black Tennessee, a beauty pageant contest after which she was offered a job at the WVOL, a radio station that aired to the African American community in Nashville.
There are quite a number of aspects that have shown the basic character of the leader that Oprah has become over the years. To start with, she was the first female African American to become a news anchor at Nashville. Later on she launched a number of successful ventures all of which have been quite influential on her journey and the influence that she has had on the society (Biography.com, 2016). This paints a very vivid image of her character. This is given the fact that, looking at her childhood experiences and background, most people would have written her off to be a waste. She had been into promiscuous sex, drugs and sexual abuse that had devastating effects on her life as a teenager, but most importantly as a child. The trauma that she went through became her stepping-stone into a world that she now leads. For most of her audience, it is the ability to overcome the challenges that she experienced as a child and the courage to tell her story to inspire. She was not afraid of the fact that some of the people may ridicule her for the challenges that she faced as a child. This is especially with the stigma associated with rape and incest. Instead she focused on the power behind a bold character and one that is enduring. Through the bold step to speak, up she managed to get millions of audiences on her show, who were also going through the same kind of challenges. This is truly influential and a character that is admired by many to date. She rose above her situation and made it to the ivy league of talk shows. Most of the talk shows that have come up after hers, have been highly inspired by the character that Oprah showed from the very beginning. Most importantly is the fact that, she was able to turn challenges into opportunity.
One other aspect that comes off from the character analysis of Oprah, is the fact that she is highly charismatic. Growing up with her father and some of the basic influences that she had from her grandmother, she developed a very strong sense of values. This is a crucial aspect about all leaders that are considered to be charismatic. At the same time, such leaders tend to have a very strong sense of confidence, which embodies a dominant personality and fierce desire to be of influence. As a person and a leader, Oprah has shown very intricate influences with her charismatic approach in all of the activities she is involved in even outside the shows that she hosts. This a crucial character especially for leaders that would want to inspire change in their followers. Without the need of using strict laws, charismatic leaders are able to inspire their followers to take positive and conscious steps towards a specific goal (Biography.com, 2016). One of the aspects that comes, from an analysis of the influence that Oprah has on her audience, is the fact that, they are always waiting to hear what she recommends. Ideally, for the audience, she exudes a set of characters that they would want to embrace as part of their character as well. Aspects such as confidence, values, morals and principles. As such, she is a considered as one of the most successful role models of her time.
It is evident that, Oprah more than most leaders has shown great level of focus and purpose in her life and career. She has been able to develop her career with razor sharp precision of what she wants to achieve and has put in the efforts to do the same. For most of the followers, like everyone else, they want to become something that is better than their current version. This is a common attribute with goal-oriented people. They always want to achieve more and better improve themselves. Oprah to her viewers and the society at large represents a goal-oriented achiever to be emulated.
There is one other character that has helped Oprah become what she is today and win as many followers as she has, being an authentic communicator. Communications skills are one of the subtle baselines for a leader. For one to be a successful leader, they have to be able to put across to their followers what it is they hope to achieve and how to go about it. They also have to communicate with the followers at a personal level (Biography.com, 2016). Before they become followers, they are people that have needs and challenges. Oprah, more than most leaders has mastered the art of being an authentic communicator. She is able to express what she feels and let the audience work through her emotions and struggles. From which point they feel that they are able to trust her with their struggles. As a leader, one has to be authentic if they wish their followers to be as authentic. Being an authentic communicator has helped Oprah to interact with different people from different backgrounds and win them over. She has often admitted to her audience that she w...