logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2024
15m 4s

What Oprah’s Leadership Journey Reveals ...

Harvard Business Review
About this episode

Oprah Winfrey isn’t just a public figure—she’s the wealthiest woman in the entertainment industry and the first African-American woman billionaire. But how did she rise from a daytime talk show host to a media mogul? What leadership skills did she develop along the way?

In this episode, Harvard Business School executive fellow Bill George explores the challenges Oprah faced on her path to success and how she overcame them. He explains how she shifted away from people-pleasing, found her unique voice, and embraced vulnerability as a key leadership strength.

Key episode topics include: leadership, entrepreneurship, race, media, TV, entertainment.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original Cold Call episode: Black Business Leaders Series: Oprah’s Path to Authentic Leadership (2018)

· Find more episodes of Cold Call

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org

Up next
Yesterday
Leading a Team When the Strategy Keeps Changing
It's tough to keep a team motivated when the strategy from the top keeps shifting. That's the challenge facing a leader in a large global organization. He’s been getting positive feedback on his work, but he’s having trouble leading his team amid conflicting priorities and withou ... Show More
50m 48s
Oct 1
Cultivating an Experimental Mindset in Your Organization
Harvard Business School’s Stefan Thomke says running experiments can give companies tremendous value, but too often business leaders still make decisions based on intuition. With the right approach, even small firms can get a competitive advantage from the right kinds of tests. 
24m 40s
Sep 24
Moving Beyond Either-Or Decision-Making
Jennifer Riel, an adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management, describes a problem-solving method that helps leaders move beyond either-or decisions to make stronger choices. 
19m 55s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2025
Great Strategy Starts with Experimentation
Stefan Thomke, professor at Harvard Business School, says running experiments can give companies tremendous value, but too often business leaders make decisions based on intuition. While A/B testing on large transaction volumes is common practice at Google, Booking.com, and Netfl ... Show More
23m 28s
Aug 2024
Is Your Company Reading Data the Wrong Way?
We live in an age where we have more data than ever. But most leaders have two strong reactions to new data. Either they rely too heavily on studies or information to make decisions. Or they dismiss outright data that could be very relevant. The better way is learning how to inte ... Show More
25m 35s
Feb 2025
The Key to Sustaining an Enduring Competitive Advantage
It’s a holy grail for many businesses—the search for sustainable competitive advantage. But Chris Zook points out that it’s elusive for most companies. He notes that less than one in 10 companies even achieve a modest level of sustained and profitable growth over a 10-year period ... Show More
18m 55s
Aug 6
575: Ex McKinsey Expert on War Games, John Horn: How to Read Your Competitors (Strategy Skills classics)
John Horn, professor of economics at Washington University's Olin Business School and former McKinsey strategist, shares a disciplined framework for understanding competitive behavior by applying game theory and structured simulations. In this episode, he explains how companies c ... Show More
1 h
Aug 14
Corporate Finance Explained | The Psychology of Financial Decision Making
You've spent days building a perfect financial model, yet something about the final decision just feels "off." The numbers don't lie, but our own brains can quietly lead us astray. In this episode of FinPod, we dive deep into the world of cognitive biases and reveal how these hid ... Show More
13m 42s
Oct 2024
Why AI Isn’t Enough To Beat The Competition
Many companies are investing heavily in artificial intelligence right now, hoping to improve both efficiency and innovation. But, as with any technology that sees widespread adoption, AI itself won't be enough to build a long-term advantage over competitors, says Jay Barney, prof ... Show More
23m 28s
Mar 2025
The Right Way to Make Data-Driven Decisions
Fueled by the promise of concrete insights, organizations are increasingly prioritizing data in their decision-making processes. But that process can easily go wrong. Many leaders don’t understand that their decisions are only as good as how they interpret the data. In this episo ... Show More
27m 4s
Feb 2025
To Grow Profitably, Take It Slow
Many companies, especially in the tech world, have come to embrace the idea of growth at all costs. But according to research from Gary Pisano, professor at Harvard Business School, most firms fail to consistently increase revenues and profits over the long term, adjusting for in ... Show More
30m 10s
Apr 2025
Biglaw Surrender Fallout Continues
And now we have a tracker for that!-----After a few weeks of watching some law firms stand up to facially illegal demands from the Trump administration... and more law firms rapidly cave to those same demands, we put together a helpful tracker to keep clients, potential laterals, ... Show More
32m 11s
Jul 2024
When Collaborating with Competitors Makes Sense
It’s an idea that’s a non-starter at many organizations: collaborating with a competitor. But Yale School of Management professor Barry Nalebuff says leaders who refuse to consider teaming up with other companies—even when there are clear mutual benefits—may be leaving value on t ... Show More
25m 58s