Oprah Winfrey: 5 Steps To Powerful Leadership

Oprah Winfrey Receives Cecil B. de Mille Award at the 2018 Golden Globes

​With her trending YouTube video reaching just over 6 million views in less than 2 days, Oprah has caused a bit of a storm over social media. Lets take a look closer look at her 5 Steps To Leadership. 

1. She was topical
   #Metoo and #TimesUp were already hot subjects gaining momentum by the end of 2017 with brave assaults victims coming out and sharing their stories openly. Oprah weaved the perfect tapestry by delivering this speech just seven days into 2018, around time when people are looking for hope and starting work on their resolutions. To make sure the speech lasted longer than just a trending spot she also used evergreen topics that most Americans and the rest of the world can relate to: suffering, dream, motherhood, bills and hope. 
   
   She mentioned the recent controversy surrounding sexual allegations in media and her timeline went all the way back to her childhood and into the future. Nice way to ground her speech into history and making it future proof by ending on a call to action for change. 
   
   Being topical made her speech about me and you and us rather than just a celebrity looking down on the rest of the world. She shared her own childhood experience and since everyone had a childhood we can relate to that hunger she must've felt to make a difference growing up, making her speech feel almost like a conversation. 
   
   
2. She inspired with Authority
   
   A very powerful technique used in crafting speeches and design is the power of 3 and Oprah rolls with it twice, once when she's talking to "every woman" she mentions:
   ​​- Children to feed
   - Bills to pay
   - Dreams to pursue 
   
   Then she used the triad again when dropping the phrase "time is up" at 6:40 only this time she mixes it with repetition to bring extra focus onto these three letters as if to say, use these three words to drive change. If you remember back to MLK's powerful speech, he used "I have a dream" repeatedly to hammer home the point that everyone has a dream and that it'll take some effort to get there. 
   
   She also uses the element of surprise to hook the audience at every stage. "Black" is used very deliberately to send a message that she's not messing around. If she used 'people of colour' it wouldn't have had the same impact. We also hear a very grounded story of an African woman name Recy Taylor who's going to Church and everything is normal until..... there's a twist and Recy Taylor is assaulted by her victims and to send another shock Recy dies just 10 days before this event. All this goes a long way to shock/ surprise the audience and makes them want to pay very close attention. Of course this is a real person so the effects are deeper than if this would've been a made up story. 
    
   Oprah also uses no filler words and pauses with purpose, both signs of a healthy leader on their A-game. Only a leader can pause knowing well that they have less than 9 minutes to move the world, most newcomers would squeeze too much and pace on stage but Oprah is totally relaxed and takes her time delivering the content. 
   
   Lastly, Oprah inspires a large audience (mostly online) with her speech, but it's not a fluke. Everything about this speech was carefully staged. The signs are all there: 
   - She looks directly into the lens even though there is a live audience present. This makes us feel like she's personally talking to us.
   - She also works the room again and again and then the world outside by saying 'every girl' in her speech. Even though the movement was against monstrosity of men, she took the time to acknowledge the men joining her cause. 
   - She wasn't the heroine of her own speech, No! she made Sydney Portier and Recy Taylor the hero and heroine and she stayed a hungry kid, which made her speech not come across as preachy. 
   
   
3. She was concise
   
   The speech was well timed and delivered in under 10 minutes with the main content taking up just 9 minutes. We already know that shorter talks get shared a lot more and that is one reason Ted Talks are kept under 17 minutes. Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address was under 15 minutes and so was Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream Speech - August 28, 1963 at almost exactly 17 minutes. Oprah goes one step further by cutting her speech almost into half making it future proof. ​This makes the speech viral worthy. 
   
   Make no mistakes, this speech was put together by a team who carefully crafted each and every word, we can see this because: 
   - There are more than three stories crammed in 9 minutes
   - Recy Taylor story is told (from walking to church to her death) in exactly 1 minute
   - Oprah acknowledges her friend (at 2:45) without boring us, all in one breath
   - Again (at 5:00) she goes through titles and paces up
   - No fillers, which means she's gone through this speech quite a few times already
   
   
4. She used her voice as a catalyst for change
   
   She slowed right down at "Time is up" (at 6:40) and almost gave it 27 seconds (to 7:07) repeating that phrase three times. This would've been a massive decision for her team because time was off the essence and we definitely know this because at 7:37 we can hear the audience trying to clap at "Me Too" but Oprah powers through, and takes them through another precise minute of speech before delivering her punchline strongly "A new day is on the horizon". 
   
   We also hear her accentuating "Strong enough, empowered enough, speak up" at 4:00. Again when she drops the punchline above. She also mentions "Rosa Parks" (at 6:00) very slowly, to emphasis her importance in the mentioned story. 
   
   By using the correct pitch, pace and volume she added another (almost hidden) layer of depth and interest to her speech which keeps everyone engaged all the way to the end.
   
   
5. Masterful storytelling
   
   It almost feels like we're listening to a member of family have a conversation when Oprah uses the power of storytelling to weave the different messages into her speech. The talk begins with "1984...." instead of 'Good evening ladies and gentlemen', this immediately grabs everyones attention and we want to know more about what happens in that year. 
   
   Contrast was intentionally used to have a story of a male role model at the start and then adding a female role model half way through the story. She also uses timeline to her advantage by starting in history (past), bringing the newspapers into the play (present) and then leaving everyone with a message of hope (future). 
   
   Mass appeal was obviously a big deal here and rightly so, why would she want to not appeal to everyone in the world. She literally tells us that this speech is for everyone by mentioning "cuts across cultures" and the camera also cuts to an Asian model/actress in the audience. As a visual prop we see the camera jump from one colour to another, from a skinny model all the way to an oversized lady and everything in between. 
   
   The storytelling format was very similar to that of a President's speech. The audience was segmented and targeted at different point for a complete different impact:
   - Mothers
   - Girls
   - People with dream
   - People of colour
   - Assaulted victims
   - Influencers in the room
   - People viewing online
   - Activist of the Civil rights movement 
   
   The speech moves from one segmentation to another and by the end it touches almost everyone who's ever been a victim of injustice. There is a great example of a  Ronald Reagan's Space Shuttle Challenger Address in Nancy Duarte's  book Resonate in which he uses Audience Segmentation. This speech comes very close to that in terms of marketing the right message. 

Conclusion

Through this carefully planned masterpiece clearly Oprah was trying to kill two birds with one stone or perhaps many. Whatever the reason, Oprah looked in good form as she delivered this speech and the numbers don't lie. They gave us a clear picture of the impact she had in just a few days after this video went live. If you haven't already here is your chance to watch the video and then make sure to comment below and let me know if you agree with the list? Or what else would you add? 

If you're interested in advancing your career check out Smart Public Speaker. 

​Gagan Singh