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Stanford Graduate School of BusinessStanford Graduate School of Business

Oprah Winfrey on Career, Life, and Leadership

During a student-led interview at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Oprah Winfrey shares seminal moments of her career journey and the importance of listening to your instincts.

Oprah WinfreyguestStudent interviewerhostStudent interviewercameo
Apr 28, 20141h 4mWatch on YouTube

Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.

Transcript

  1. 0:00 – 0:06

    Intro

    1. OW

      [instrumental music] [cheering]

  2. 0:06 – 2:12

    Oprah’s energetic welcome and setting the conversation framework

    1. OW

      Oprah! Woo! Love it. Love, love, love. Tweet, tweet. [cheering] Woo-hoo. Love. Mm. Please. Thank you. Thank you. So happy to be in the bubble. Woo.

    2. SP

      [laughing]

    3. OW

      Love it.

    4. SP

      [laughing]

    5. OW

      Aren't you all the luckiest people in the world?

    6. SP

      [laughing]

    7. OW

      Oh my God, I envy you.

    8. SP

      [laughing]

    9. OW

      Hi, Amanda.

    10. SI

      Hi, Oprah.

    11. SP

      [laughing]

    12. SI

      Oh. I can't believe I just said that. [laughs]

    13. SP

      [laughing]

    14. SI

      So we have been so excited and eagerly anticipating this day. This campus has been buzzing since the announce, announcement was made last week that you'd be coming here. And I received-

    15. OW

      Thanks for the buzz.

    16. SI

      [laughs]

    17. SP

      [laughing]

    18. OW

      I'm so glad-

    19. SI

      I re-

    20. OW

      ... you know, I still have buzz.

    21. SP

      [laughing]

    22. OW

      So good.

    23. SI

      [laughs] I received a lot of support and advice from my friends, and that was really great. And I just wanted to say, I think the best advice I heard was, "Don't worry, Amanda, if you mess up, Oprah can just interview herself." [laughs]

    24. OW

      [laughs]

    25. SP

      [laughing]

    26. SI

      So if I falter, feel free to ask yourself some questions.

    27. SP

      [laughing]

    28. SI

      And we'll, and we'll begin. Um, but to get things started, I want, I thought we'd frame today's talk with, um, framing three sections with quotes of yours that you shared after wrapping up your 25th season and final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show. And I thought some of these quotes, I mean, you share so much wisdom, but these really spoke to me and thought would be a great way to frame our discussion.

    29. OW

      Okay.

    30. SI

      So this first one that I will read for everyone and for you, so you don't have to strain your neck, [laughs] is, um, "You have to know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world." So I wanted to take this time to talk about your early career and how you discovered your calling. So let's go back to when you were college age. Did you know that you wanted to get into TV and media specifically?

  3. 2:12 – 4:16

    From aspiring teacher to radio at 16 and an unexpected TV break

    1. OW

      No, I did not. I thought that I was going to be a teacher. Um, I was in my sophomore class at Tennessee State University. I'd already been working in radio since I was 16. And my, um, I remember I was in Mr. Cox's, uh, drawing class for theater, and I was a terrible drawer. He said I couldn't draw a straight line with a ruler.

    2. SP

      [laughing]

    3. OW

      And, uh, and I got a call in that class from a guy at, uh, the local station, CBS, and he'd been calling me several times when I was working in radio. Um, so I started working in radio at 16. I won the Miss Fire Prevention contest, another long story.

    4. SP

      [laughing]

    5. OW

      And, uh, so when I went back to the station to pick up my prize, some guy said, "Would you like to hear your voice on tape?" I said, "Sure." And I started reading this copy on tape. They called everybody in the building, said, "Hear this kid read." I was 16. They hired me in radio. So I was in radio at 16. And so I started getting calls about, um, my freshman year to come into television. I'd never thought about it, and still was living at home, and couldn't figure out how I'd manage those, I had biology at 1:00.

    6. SP

      [laughing]

    7. OW

      And so I, I, I couldn't figure out how I would be able to manage my schedule. And Mr. Cox said to me, the one, same, same professor who said you can't draw a straight line with a ruler, he said... I came back from, from, uh, taking this phone call and he said, "Who was that?" I said, "There's this guy at CBS, he keeps calling me.

    8. SP

      [laughing]

    9. OW

      He wants me to interview for a job."

    10. SI

      Catch him.

    11. OW

      And Mr. Cox said, "That is why you go to school, fool."

    12. SP

      [laughing]

    13. OW

      "So that CBS can call you."

    14. SI

      [laughs]

    15. SP

      [laughing]

    16. OW

      "That is why you're in school." So I, he said, "You, y- you leave now and go call him back." And, and, uh, I did, and I was hired in television, not knowing anything about it.

    17. SI

      Mm-hmm.

  4. 4:16 – 6:00

    Learning by doing in television—and realizing reporting didn’t fit

    1. OW

      Um, having in mind Barbara Walters, but thinking, oh, okay, I can do that. Uh, not knowing how to write or film or anything.

    2. SI

      Mm-hmm.

    3. OW

      And I think it was because it was the, it was the times, and I literally had somebody who was willing to work with me, that I, that I managed to, to find my way. But I had to find my way-

    4. SI

      Right

    5. OW

      ... because the reporting never really fit me.

    6. SI

      Mm.

    7. OW

      And what did work for me, I'm this old, I'm so old that when I started, that, um, it was a year of live action cam.

    8. SI

      [laughs]

    9. OW

      And so it was like video cameras live. And so the news stations would do a live, a live shot. They would throw to somebody live even if nothing was going on-

    10. SI

      Right

    11. OW

      ... just so they could say, "Live action cam."

    12. SP

      [laughing]

    13. SI

      [laughs]

    14. OW

      And what I found is I wasn't so good at the writing part.

    15. SI

      Mm.

    16. OW

      But if I was just standing up and talking about what had just happened, it was really good.

    17. SI

      Right.

    18. OW

      And then I started to feel... So I started in 19 working in television, became an anchor immediately afterwards. My father still had an 11:00 curfew. Can you believe such a thing?

    19. SI

      [laughs]

    20. SP

      [laughing]

    21. OW

      That I am d-- I am the 10:00 anchor.

    22. SP

      [laughing]

    23. OW

      In Nashville, Tennessee, I am the woman on the newscast reading the news, and my father would say, "Be home by 11:00."

    24. SP

      [laughing]

    25. OW

      And I'd say, "Dad, the news is on at 10:00." He goes, "And it's off at 10:30, so be home by 11:00."

    26. SP

      [laughing]

    27. OW

      So I, I, I had a very strict, very strict father. So anyway, I, I could feel inside myself-

    28. SI

      Mm-hmm

    29. OW

      ... that reporting was not the right thing for me, even though I was happy to have the job.

    30. SI

      Right.

  5. 6:00 – 7:27

    Choosing growth over money: staying put to build craft and trust instincts

    1. OW

      I got an offer to go to Atlanta. I was making $10,000 a year. In 1971, but still in college, so I was thinking I was doing pretty good.

    2. SI

      Yeah.

    3. OW

      I got an offer to go to Atlanta for 40,000, which I thought, "It's over."

    4. SI

      [laughs]

    5. SP

      [laughs]

    6. OW

      I'm gonna make $40,000. And my boss at the time said to me, "You do not know what you don't know."

    7. SI

      Mm.

    8. OW

      "And you need to stay here until you can learn to write better, until you, uh, can perfect your craft as, as a journalist." And so I, I, he said, "And we can't give you 40, but we can give you 12."

    9. SP

      [laughs]

    10. OW

      So, so I stayed.

    11. SI

      That's right.

    12. OW

      And y- you know, the reason why I stayed is 'cause I could feel inside myself that even though the 40 was alluring at the time, that he was absolutely right. So to make a long story short, 'cause I'd be here all day just talking about how it all came about, I started listening to what felt like the truth for me.

    13. SI

      Mm.

    14. OW

      A couple of years later, I moved to Baltimore. I could feel that as a reporter, and by this time, I'm 22, I'm making 22,000. I met my best friend Gail there, who said, "Oh my God, can you imagine if you're 30 and you're making 30,000?"

    15. SP

      [laughs]

    16. OW

      "And then you're 40 and then it's 40,000."

    17. SP

      [laughs]

    18. OW

      Um.

    19. SI

      [laughs]

    20. OW

      We actually had that conversation in the bathroom.

    21. SI

      [laughs]

    22. SP

      [laughs]

  6. 7:27 – 10:06

    Knowing what you don’t want—and being ‘demoted’ into talk where she found home

    1. OW

      So this is, I started to feel that reporting wasn't for me, but I had my father, I had my friends, everybody was saying, "Oh my God, you're, you're an anchorwoman. You're on TV."

    2. SI

      Mm.

    3. OW

      "I mean, you can't give up that job."

    4. SI

      Right.

    5. OW

      And when I was, by the time I was making 25, my father goes, "Well, you just hit the jackpot. You're not gonna make no more money than that. That's just it."

    6. SP

      [laughs]

    7. OW

      So I was torn between what the world was saying to me and what I felt to be the truth for myself. It felt like an unnatural act for me, reporting. Although I knew that to a lot of people it was glamorous. And I started to just inside myself think, "What, what, what do I really wanna do? What do I really wanna do?"

    8. SI

      Right.

    9. OW

      And I will say this, knowing what you don't want to do is the best possible place to be if you don't know what to do. Because knowing what you don't want to do leads you to figure out what is it you, you really do wanna do.

    10. SI

      Mm-hmm. So you discovered talk then, right? Around that time?

    11. OW

      I didn't discover talk. I was being, I got demoted.

    12. SI

      Oh.

    13. OW

      They wanted to fire me, but I was, I was under contract for d- and they didn't wanna give up the 25,000.

    14. SI

      Right.

    15. OW

      So they were trying to keep me on to the end of the year. So they put me on this ta- this is the way life works.

    16. SI

      That's unbelievable.

    17. OW

      They put me on a talk show to try to avoid having to pay me the contract out, and the moment I sat on the talk show interviewing the Carvel ice cream man and his multiple flavors-

    18. SP

      [laughs]

    19. SI

      [laughs]

    20. OW

      ... I knew-

    21. SI

      That I-

    22. OW

      ... that I had found home for myself. Because when I was a news reporter, it was so unnatural for me, I, you know, to cover somebody's d- uh, tragedies and difficulties, and then to not to ha- feel anything for it. And I would go back after a fire-

    23. SI

      Mm

    24. OW

      ... and I would take them blankets, and then I would get a note from my boss saying, "What the hell are you doing?"

    25. SI

      Right.

    26. OW

      "You're just supposed to report on-"

    27. SI

      Can't be that empathetic.

    28. OW

      You can't, cannot be that empathetic.

    29. SI

      Yeah. [laughs]

    30. OW

      And it felt unnatural for me. So, um, if I were to put it in business terms, it, it, or, or to leave you with the message, the, the truth is, I have from the very beginning listened to my instinct. All of my best decisions in life have come because I was attuned to what really felt like the next right move for me. And so it didn't feel right. I knew that I wouldn't be there forever. I never even learned the streets in Baltimore.

  7. 10:06 – 12:30

    Chicago leap, preparedness, and a personal definition of luck

    1. OW

      So when I got the call to come to Chicago-

    2. SI

      Mm

    3. OW

      ... after, you know, starting, uh, with a, with a co-anchor and, and working, uh, in talk for several years, I knew that it was the right thing to do.

    4. SI

      It's great.

    5. OW

      And I knew that if I d- even if I didn't succeed, 'cause at the time there was a, there was a, a guy named Phil Donahue-

    6. SI

      Yeah

    7. OW

      ... who was the king of talk.

    8. SI

      Mm-hmm.

    9. OW

      And was on in Chicago, and every single person, except my best friend Gail, said, "You're gonna fail." Every single person, when I left B- they, my bosses by this time thought I was terrific and said, "You're gonna, you're, you're, you're walking into a land mine. You're gonna fail. You're gonna fail. Chicago's a racist city. You're Black. You're not gonna make it." Everything to, to keep me staying. They even offered me a car and an apartment and all this stuff. And I said, "No. If I fail, then I will find out what is the next thing for me. What is the next true thing for me?"

    10. SI

      Right. It felt right to you, so you went for it.

    11. OW

      'Cause it felt like this is now the move I need to make. And I was not one of those people, you know, all of my, um, the people who worked with me in news, they would have their tapes, and they'd have their stories, and they'd have, you know, uh, resumes ready. I didn't have any of that 'cause I knew that the time would come-

    12. SI

      Mm-hmm

    13. OW

      ... where I would, where what I needed would show up for me.

    14. SI

      Okay.

    15. OW

      And when that showed up, I was ready. Because my definition of luck is preparation meeting the moment of opportunity.

    16. SI

      Right.

    17. OW

      And I was pr- pr- prepared to be able to step into that, that, that, that world of talk in a way that I, I knew I could do it.

    18. SI

      Great. So often in your career, I'm sure you were a minority, perhaps as the only woman, the only Black person, the only person from a poor family. Uh, did this pr- affect you on your professional path? And how did you navigate situations in which you might have felt more alone?

    19. OW

      Mm.

    20. SI

      And now, how did that impact how you lead and how you might help people who may be feeling that same thing?

    21. OW

      Okay, Amanda, that's a lot of questions.

    22. SP

      [laughs]

    23. SI

      I'm sorry. All right, let's-

    24. OW

      I mean, I, I, man, I have to put my glasses on

    25. SI

      ... let, let me, let us- I figured I had you here, I was gonna, I was gonna ask as much as I could.

    26. SP

      [laughs]

    27. SI

      Um, so-

    28. OW

      Amanda went deep on me there for a minute there.

    29. SP

      [laughs]

    30. OW

      Whoa. Back up, sister girl. Come on, back up.

  8. 12:30 – 14:17

    Being the ‘only one’ in the room and carrying ancestral strength

    1. OW

      Always the only, only woman in the room.

    2. SI

      Mm.

    3. OW

      Still walk in, only woman in the room, and there's a room full of white men, usually older. Um, thrills me.

    4. SP

      [laughs]

    5. OW

      Just thrills me. I just, I just love it.

    6. SI

      [laughs]

    7. SP

      [laughs]

    8. OW

      Um, usually the only Black person in the room also never really concerned me because I, I don't look at people through color. I didn't get to be where I am by, and who I am by looking at, uh, the color of people's skin. I really literally took Martin Luther King at his word, uh, and understand that the content of a person's character, and refuse to let anybody else do that to me. So I love it.

    9. SP

      [laughs]

    10. OW

      Just love it. And, um, there's a wonderful phrase by Maya Angelou from a poem that she wrote called, um, To Our Grandmothers, that she says, "When I come as one, but I stand as 10,000."

    11. SI

      [clears throat]

    12. OW

      So when I walk into a room, and particularly before I have something really challenging to do, or I'm gonna be in a circumstance where I feel I'm going to be, you know, up against, um, some difficulties, I will literally sit and I will call on that 10,000.

    13. SI

      Mm-hmm.

    14. OW

      I will call on the, the ancestors. I will call on those people who've come before me. I will call on the women who forged a path that I might be able to sit in the room with all of those white men, and love it so much.

    15. SP

      [laughs]

    16. OW

      Uh, I, I, I call on, I call on that-

    17. SI

      Right

    18. OW

      ... because I know that my being where I am and first of all, being who I am-

    19. SI

      Right

    20. OW

      ... and where I am, didn't come just out of myself, that I come from a heritage. And so I own that.

    21. SI

      Mm-hmm.

  9. 14:17 – 17:41

    A pay inequity moment, not filing a fight, and trusting a bigger guiding force

    1. OW

      And I step into that room, not just as myself, but I bring all of that, that, that, that energy with me. So it has never been an issue for me, except when I was, I think, 23, still working in, um, working in Baltimore.

    2. SI

      Mm-hmm.

    3. OW

      I'd gone to my boss and said, uh, that the guy who was working with me, co, co, uh, my co-host on the People Are Talking show was making more money than I. And we were, we were co-hosts. So I went to my boss and I said... This is in 1970, so I was older than 23. It was 1979, '80. And I said, "I, I just would like to..." You know how intimidating it is to go to the boss in the first place.

    4. SI

      Oh, God.

    5. OW

      But I'm gonna go and I'm gonna stand up for myself.

    6. SP

      [laughs]

    7. OW

      And I said, "Richard's making more money than I am, and I, and I, and I don't think that's fair because we're doing the same job. We sit in the same show, we did same..." And my general manager said, "Why, why should you make as much money as he?" And I said, "'Cause we're doing the same job." And he said, um, "But he has children."

    8. SP

      [laughs]

    9. OW

      "Do you have children?" And I said, "No." He said, "Well, he has to pay for college educations. He has, he owns his own home. Do you own your home?" I said, "No." He said, "He has, uh, a mortgage to pay. He has insurance. He has a... Do you have that?" "No." "So t- tell me, why you, why do you need the same amount of money?" And I said, "Thank you for your time," and I left.

    10. SI

      Oh, no.

    11. OW

      I left. I didn't complain about it. I didn't file a, a, a suit about it. I knew that in that moment it was time for me to go. And that I started the process for myself of preparing myself for you will not be here long. You are not gonna be able to get what you need. I had a boss at the time, uh, who w- was African American and had just been, uh, for the first time made an assistant news director, and was drunk with power. Drunk with power.

    12. SI

      Mm.

    13. OW

      And felt it his, I think, I don't know, I think he woke up in the morning thinking of things he could do to harass me. I decided not to file a suit against it 'cause I knew at the time I would lose.

    14. SI

      Right.

    15. OW

      That no good would come of it, that I would be blackballed in television, that it would turn into a major thing, and I knew I didn't have long to stay there. I had a vision for what the future was. Even though I couldn't place exactly where my future would be, I knew, uh, who held the future. 'Cause I am really guided by a force that's bigger than myself. I know that my being here on the planet is not just of my own making.

    16. SI

      So you used that as momentum to just leave, cut your losses and go?

    17. OW

      No, I just, I ju- I filed it away.

    18. SI

      Yeah.

    19. OW

      I go, "There will come a time."

    20. SP

      [laughs]

    21. SI

      It's gonna come back. Yeah, you were right. [laughs] You were right.

    22. OW

      Where I will be sitting in the same room, and it happened, like in the late '90s, I had the Oprah Show and I ran into that guy. Lord Jesus, thank you.

    23. SP

      [laughs]

    24. SI

      [laughs]

    25. OW

      Oh my God. Oh, one of the sweetest moments I've ever had.

    26. SP

      [laughs]

    27. OW

      Oh, go ahead.

    28. SI

      Okay.

    29. SP

      [laughs]

    30. SI

      Here we go. So right now as we sit here-

  10. 17:41 – 21:34

    “Step Up and Into Yourself”: self-awareness, inner voice, and purpose beyond the job

    1. SI

      ... and Sheryl Sandberg. And last year she published the book Lean In, and it has gotten incredible traction. It had some, you know, criticism as well. And I was wondering, if you were to write a book on women and careers, what would your title be?

    2. OW

      Mine would be, actually, um, mine wouldn't be Lean In. It would be Step Up and Into Yourself.

    3. SI

      Step Up.

    4. OW

      Because this is the truth. There is no real doing in the world without being first. For me, being Your presence, your connection to yourself, and that which is greater than yourself is far more important than what you do, but also is the thing that fuels what you do. Right. And I know that one of the things that, that i- is so important for what happens here a- at the graduate school is that you have leaders who are self-actualized and understand what your contribution to change the world can be. You can only do that if you know yourself. You can only do that unless you take, unless you... You cannot do it unless you take the time to actually know who you are and why you are here. Now, I happen to know for sure- Mm-hmm ... that every human being comes, comes called, and that the calling goes beyond, um, the definition of what your job is, that there is innate, there is an innate supreme moment of destiny for everybody. And that's why when I was in Baltimore, I could feel this isn't it. Mm-hmm. This isn't it. And then in Chicago, uh, after 25 years of success on the show, I started to feel this isn't it. There's something more, something more, something more that's calling me to what is the supreme moment, and everybody has that. And you cannot, um, fulfill it unless you have a level of self-awareness to be connected- [clears throat] ... to what is the inner voice or the instinct, I call it your emotional GPS system, uh, that allows you to make the best decisions for yourself. And every decision that has profited me- Mm-hmm ... has come from me listening to that inner voice first. Right. And every dec- every time I've gotten into a situation where I was in trouble, it's because I didn't listen to it. I overrode that voice, that instinct with my own, with my own head and my own thinking. I tried to rationalize it. I tried to tell myself, "But, you know, okay, you're gonna make a lot of money. Oh, no." [laughs] And so I am... I sit here, uh, you know, profitable, successful by all the definitions of the world, but what really, really, really resonates deeply with me is that I live a fantastic life. My inner life is really intact. My... I live from the inside out. And so everything that I have, I have because I let it be fueled by who I am and what I realize my contributions to the planet could be. Mm-hmm. And what my real contribution is, it looks like I'm a, I was a talk show host. It looks like, you know, I'm in the movies. It looks like, you know, I have a network, but my real contribution, the reason why I'm here- Yep ... is to help connect people to themselves and the higher ideas of consciousness. I'm here to help raise consciousness. So my television platform- Yeah ... was to help raise consciousness. In the beginning, I didn't realize that. I thought, "Oh my God, I got a show." [laughs]

    5. SP

      [laughs]

  11. 21:34 – 27:41

    Transforming her platform: intention, consequences, and ‘using television’

    1. OW

      And it wasn't until, um, I was interviewing the Ku Klux Klan one day, and can you imagine all the great lessons come from things that are, that are sometimes challenging. I was interviewing Ku Klux Klan, and I thought as an African American, "Oh, I'm gonna get them. I'm gonna show for every Jewish person, for every person who's been, uh, discriminated against." And during the commercial break, I saw the Klan exchanging, uh, signals and looks at each other, and then something inside, that instinct, I thought, "I am doing nobody any good. They are loving this. They are using me." [clears throat] "I think I'm doing an interview." Right. "They are using me." I did not know it at the time. I brought them on, actually, those same guys back in, uh, for my last year, and they told me that they used that show for their recruitment. I could feel that happening, and I made a decision, uh, after that show, I'll never do anything like that again. I'll never let my platform be used. Right. And I will not be used. Yes, sir. And at the time, in the '90s, early '90s, everybody was doing confrontational television, and I thought I was above the fray 'cause I, 'cause I'm not like Jerry Springer. I don't do that.

    2. SP

      [laughs]

    3. OW

      [laughs] So in my egoic delusion, I thought because I am not that bad, I'm really not bad, but I was doing confrontational television. I thought I was exposing men with affairs. We happened to have a guy on who was talking about, um, how he'd had an affair with his wife, and he was crazy enough to come on with his wife and his girlfriend. People ask me, "Why do people do that?" It's because nobody ever asked him, so. [laughs]

    4. SP

      [laughs]

    5. OW

      You say, "Would you come on with your wife and your girlfriend?" He goes, "Sure." Um... [laughs]

    6. SP

      [laughs]

    7. OW

      He was thinking. He was thinking. So he comes on with the wife and the girlfriend. This is a life-changing moment for me, the Klan and this woman. Mm-hmm. The wife is there. He's in the center, and the girlfriend, and he tells his wi- he announces, we were live television at the time, and he announced that to, to, to the world and to his wife that his girlfriend was pregnant. And I did... You see your face? Your mouth's open like this. [laughs]

    8. SP

      [laughs]

    9. OW

      I did exactly that. I went, "Oh my God," and you could hear the gasp in the audience and everything. And I literally, really, it still makes my eyes water to think about it. I looked at her face, and I felt her humiliation. I felt her shame. I felt it, and I said, "Never again." [clears throat] "I will get out of television if I have to do this." And I went and I had a meeting with the producers, 'cause I just had the Klan before, now I got the adulterers here.

    10. SI

      [laughs]

    11. OW

      And, um, some uplifting show, I must say.

    12. SI

      [laughs]

    13. OW

      Uh, and I said to the producers, "We are gonna change. We're gonna turn this around."

    14. SI

      Mm-hmm.

    15. OW

      "And I'm no longer gonna be used by television. I am going to use television." What a concept. I'm gonna use television as a force for, for... I didn't say at the time for good. I said, "You know, let's think about what we wanna say to the world."

    16. SI

      Yeah.

    17. OW

      "And how we wanna use this as a platform to speak to the world. How do we want to see the world change? How do we wanna impact to the world? And then let all of our shows really be focused and centered around that." I then said to the producers exactly what I said to you backstage.

    18. SI

      Mm-hmm.

    19. OW

      "Do not bring me a show unless you have fully thought out what is your intention for doing it." Because if there is, if, if, if there's a religion or a mantra or law that I live by, I live by the third law of motion in physics, which is, Stanford, uh, which is-

    20. SI

      [laughs]

    21. OW

      ... for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. That is, that is, that is, that is my religion. I know that what I'm thinking, and therefore gonna act on, is going to come back to me in this, in a, in a, in a circular motion just like gravity. Like, what goes up comes down. And so what also propels the action is the intention. So I don't do anything without being fully clear about why I intend to do it, because the intention is going to determine the reaction, the result, or the consequence in every circumstance. I don't care what it is. So I said to my producers, "Come to me with your intention at whatever it is, whatever shows you're proposing, whatever ideas you're proposing. And then I will decide based upon the intention, do I really wanna do that?"

    22. SI

      Right.

    23. OW

      Is this how we wanna use this platform? And that really is the secret to why we were number one all those years, is because it was an intention-fueled, intention-based, coming out of purposeful programming.

    24. SI

      Goodness. Yeah.

    25. OW

      Yeah. That's what it was.

    26. SI

      Great. And that's a perfect segue to go to our second section, which I read this quote and it just struck me as so true, and I wanted to delve into it. "I've talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show, and all 30,000 had one thing in common. They all wanted validation. I will tell you that every single person you will ever meet shares that common desire." So Oprah, you are a true renaissance woman. You know, you have your own network, you had this amazingly successful show for 25 years. You've been in movies. You are one of the most important philanthropists of our time. So what are the qualities-

    27. OW

      I love hanging around you. What are some of the-

    28. SI

      [laughs]

    29. OW

      I'm just taking it all in. Really.

    30. SI

      I love it too. So we-

  12. 27:41 – 33:36

    Leadership through groundedness: spirituality as practice and serving stakeholders

    1. SI

      Good. I'm glad you like it. Um, [coughs] what are the qualities of your leadership that make you successful at such diverse pursuits?

    2. OW

      Hm.

    3. SI

      And what works for, in one area that maybe doesn't work in another? [clears throat]

    4. OW

      Well, I tell you, uh, it, it works in all areas because I, my life is fueled by my being.

    5. SI

      Yep.

    6. OW

      And the being fuels the doing. So I come from a centered place.

    7. SI

      Mm.

    8. OW

      I come from a focused place. I come from compassion. Um, it's just, it's just my nature. I come from a willingness to understand and to be understood.

    9. SI

      Right.

    10. OW

      And I come from wanting to, to, to connect. I mean, the secret of that show for 25 years is that people could see themselves in me. All over the world, they could see themselves in me. And even as I became, um, more and more, uh, financially successful, which was a big surprise to me, I was like, "Oh my God, this is so exciting."

    11. SI

      [laughs]

    12. OW

      Um-

    13. SI

      You mean you got more than that 30,000?

    14. OW

      I got more than 30,000 by the time I was 30. So-

    15. SI

      [laughs]

    16. OW

      So my... [laughs] S- but what, what I realized is through the whole process, because I'm grounded in my own self, that although I could have more shoes, my feet stayed on the ground. Although I was wearing better shoes. These are kind of cute today too.

    17. SI

      [laughs]

    18. OW

      Uh, so I could keep my feet on the ground even though I could get more shoes, and I could understand, I could understand that it really was because I was grounded. I've, I've done the, was doing and continue to this day to do the consciousness work. I work at staying awake.

    19. SI

      Mm.

    20. OW

      And being awakened is just another word for spirituality, but spirituality throws people off, and they think you mean religion. When I was hiring people for my company, for OWN, uh, for looking for presidents, uh, when people would come in, I'd say, "Tell me, what is your spiritual practice?" And literally would throw... People would, "Um, duh, well, the pr- I, well, I'm not religious," or... I said, "I didn't ask you about your religion."

    21. SI

      Right.

    22. OW

      "I asked you what's your spiritual practice. What do you do to take care of yourself? What do you do to keep yourself centered? What do you do to the..." And, uh, you know, one woman started crying. You know that's not the person.

    23. SI

      [laughs]

    24. OW

      [laughs]

    25. SI

      So that's a sign.

    26. OW

      That's a sign. So, so to answer your question-

    27. SI

      Yeah

    28. OW

      ... everything is fueled that comes from me really wanting to be a better person on earth.

    29. SI

      Mm.

    30. OW

      And this is what I know to be true. The reason why the show worked is because I understood that that audience, my v- viewers, the people who watched us every day, and would come, and just like you all did, uh, get tickets, and they would come with their fa- you all just came across campus, but that's good, too. [laughs] But people would come from all over the world just to be there with their aunts and their mothers, and they'd come with their cousins, and there'd be a few men in there going, "What the hell am I doing here?" [laughs] Or saying, "Well, I went to Oprah with you. I went to Oprah." [laughs] "It'll all at least get me clear for three or four weeks." [laughs] "I went to Oprah with you." I had such regard for that, and I just had a conversation with John Mackey, who runs Whole Foods- Yeah ... and has written this fabulous book, you should get it, called, um, Conscious Capitalism. Mm. And he was talking about how the investment in the stakeholders, the people who you are serving, that connection between the people who you're trying to serve and sell to, is equally as important as the people who you're buying from. Right. Equally as important as the people who are, you know, supporting you financially, um, as your stockholders, if you are, you know, you know, a public company. So I always understood that there really was no difference between me and the audience. At times, I might have had better shoes. [laughs] But at the core- You're the same ... the core of, of, of what really matters, that we are the same. Yeah. And you know how I know that? 'Cause all of us are seeking the same thing. You're here at this fabulous school, and will go out into the world, and each pursue based upon what you believe your talents are, what your skills are, maybe your gifts are. But you're seeking the same thing. Everybody wants to fulfill the highest, truest expression of yourself as a human being. That's what you're looking for, the highest, truest expression of yourself as a human being. And because I understand that, I understand that if you're working in a bakery, and that's where you wanna be, and that may be the, that may be what you always wanted to do, is to bake pies for people- Mm ... or bake cakes for people, or to offer your gift, then, then that's, that's for you. And there's no difference between you and me except that's how, that's your platform. Mm-hmm. That's your show every day. So my understanding of that has allowed me to, you know- Reach everyone ... to, to reach everyone. And, and there's no way that you wouldn't, because that's, that's what I truly feel. And when I sit down to talk to somebody, whether I'm talking to a murderer... I sat down, I interviewed a guy who'd, um, killed his twin daughters. I've interviewed child molesters, trying to figure out what, what it i- what is, what it is they do and why they do it. Yeah. Obviously, lots of people who've been victimized through mo- molestation. Presidents, politicians, Beyoncé herself. Ha.

  13. 33:36 – 37:24

    Validation as the universal human desire—and paying attention as a life practice

    1. OW

      Beyoncé. At the end of every interview, the murderer to Beyoncé, the question everybody asks- Mm ... that you mentioned, is, "Was that okay? How was that?" Everybody says that. And I, and now I just wait for it. [laughs]

    2. SP

      [laughs]

    3. OW

      Yeah. "Was that okay? Was that okay?" And when I finish, I'll say to you, "Was that okay?" Oh.

    4. SP

      [laughs]

    5. OW

      [laughs] I'm gonna ask you, too. Okay. [laughs]

    6. SP

      [laughs]

    7. OW

      You're very okay. You're doing very okay. Oh. [laughs] Very okay. Ooh. Very okay. So what I started to feel, feel, sense, is that there's a common thread that runs through every interview. Doesn't matter what it is or what it is about. Mm-hmm. Everybody wants to know. And this is the truth. All of your arguments are really about the same thing. It's about, did you hear me? Did you see me? And did what I say mean anything to you? That's what everything's about. So the reason why I left my boss's, uh, office when I was asking for a raise, I c- I, I knew he didn't hear nor see me, neither. Mm-hmm. And that I was not gonna get the validation that I needed. Now, I couldn't articulate that at the time. I just knew, let me get outta here. [laughs] But now I, I, yeah, I know. I could feel inside myself, I'm not gonna get the validation that I'm looking for. I also know that's what every human being is looking for. They're looking to know, are you fully here with me? Are you fully here, or are you distracted? That's what your, that's what your children want to know. That's what your, your, the people you work for want to know. That's what you want to know. Yeah. Is did you, did you hear me? And every argument isn't about whatever it is you think you're arguing about. It's really about, but can you hear me? Yes. And many people have even said it. Yeah. Have you not said it? You're not hearing me. I'm asking. Yeah.

    8. SP

      [laughs]

    9. OW

      You're not hearing me. So having, having that understanding, and I would have to say that the show, one of the reasons why I live such a fantastic life, is because I pay attention. I pay attention to my life. And your life is your greatest teacher. Every single thing that's happening to you every day, your, your joys, your s- your, your sadnesses, your challenges, your worries, your, everything is happening to bring you closer to in here. Everything is trying to take you home to yourself. And when you're at home with yourself, when you're solidly there, connected to whatever you call creation, even if you don't call it anything, connected to an energy force that is, that has unlimited power for you, when you can connect it to, to that, you, you, you are your best. My greatest, one of my greatest lessons came from a guy who wrote a book called Seat of the Soul. I was doing him on the show, and I started talking this consciousness, spiritual talk- Mm-hmm ... you know, two months after I started the, the show. And my producers would all be like, "Oh, God. There she goes again." But I knew that even though masses of people were not tuning in for that, that the whole purpose of that platform was to try to lift people up. And now I have a network and I can articulate what it is I'm trying to do. I'm trying to bring little pieces of light into people's lives. Because what is my job? My job is not to be an interviewer. My job is not to be a talk show host or just to own a network. I am here to raise the level of consciousness, to connect people to ideas and stories so that they can see themselves and live better lives.

    10. SI

      Thank you. I wanna shift gears and focus-

    11. OW

      Okay

    12. SI

      ... a bit on philanthropy.

    13. OW

      Are, are you worried about getting all your stuff in?

    14. SI

      Um, no, we're doing great.

    15. OW

      Okay.

    16. SI

      We're just gonna keep going.

    17. SP

      [laughs]

    18. SI

      I think everyone likes us, right? We're good?

    19. SP

      [laughs]

    20. OW

      Okay, good. Good.

    21. SP

      [cheering] [applause]

    22. OW

      Okay.

  14. 37:24 – 44:55

    Philanthropy: combining emotion with logic, education as leverage, and boundaries

    1. SI

      So I watched your interview with the Forbes Conference on Philanthropy.

    2. OW

      Mm-hmm.

    3. SI

      And you said something really interesting, which was that early on, some of your biggest mistakes in giving were because you made emotional decisions.

    4. OW

      Yeah.

    5. SI

      And yet we learn here at the GSB, like, one of the crucial messages we take away with us is that it's really important to be, as you said before, self-aware, to, to be understanding, often to share our emotions with others. And you yourself have been the master of, you know, harnessing vulnerability with yourself and your guests over the years. So how do you strike a balance between emotion and logic? How do you make sure that you're making logical decisions when you're giving?

    6. OW

      Oh, these are so well thought out, these questions.

    7. SI

      [laughs]

    8. SP

      [laughs]

    9. SI

      Thank you.

    10. OW

      Okay, let me think about that for a minute.

    11. SP

      [laughs] Woo! [applause]

    12. OW

      Uh, very good.

    13. SI

      Thank you.

    14. OW

      Okay.

    15. SP

      [laughs]

    16. OW

      Well, I would have to say that you need both.

    17. SI

      Hmm.

    18. OW

      You need emotion and you need logic. So in the beginning, I was purely emotional, made a lot of mistakes. Um, I happened to be sitting, I was sharing this story with, um, Dean Sullinger, uh, just before he came on. I was sitting in Nelson Mandela's living room, and I'm not just saying that to name-drop, but-

    19. SI

      [laughs]

    20. SP

      [laughs]

    21. OW

      I was actually sitting there.

    22. SI

      You stayed with him, right?

    23. OW

      I stayed with him for-

    24. SI

      Stayed with him

    25. OW

      ... I stayed with him for 10 d- 10 days, and as I said to the dean and Lisa, I could've, I literally could've written a book called 29 Meals, 'cause I had 29 meals with him at that particular time. I wished I had.

    26. SI

      Yeah, you should.

    27. OW

      Uh, I sh- I should've.

    28. SI

      You should. You should do it now.

    29. SP

      [laughs]

    30. OW

      But I didn't record it, so something, I'm thinking, "Was that the second meal or the 12th meal?"

  15. 44:55 – 49:30

    Fearlessness, staying in her lane, and the ‘supreme moment of destiny’

    1. SI

      Thank you. So to move on to our, our last part, you said at the end of your 25 years, "Gratitude is the singest- single greatest treasure I will take with me from this experience." [clears throat] So now you've started your own network.

    2. OW

      Mm-hmm.

    3. SI

      And you continue to be very involved in your philanthropy and your school. Is there anything left that you're scared to try?

    4. SP

      [laughs]

    5. OW

      Whoa, Amanda.

    6. SP

      [laughs]

    7. OW

      You must've been up all night long.

    8. SP

      [laughs]

    9. SI

      Let's compare a little bit. Just a little.

    10. OW

      Oh, my goodness. Anything left that I'm scared to try? Um, n- n- n- no.

    11. SP

      [laughs]

    12. OW

      No. And I'm just trying to think of what, I'm just trying to think, "Well, is there something that, that I haven't thought of?"

    13. SI

      Well, 'cause there's not much you haven't done, so. [laughs]

    14. OW

      Well, but I stay in my lane.

    15. SI

      Yeah.

    16. OW

      I stay, I know what my lane is.

    17. SI

      Yeah.

    18. OW

      I know what my lane is.

    19. SI

      Mm-hmm.

    20. OW

      I know that my real calling is, um, what I, what I said earlier.

    21. SI

      Yeah.

    22. OW

      It's not... I know what it looks like to the rest of the world. "Oh, there's a talk show."

    23. SI

      Mm.

    24. OW

      But I really know what I'm here to do.

    25. SI

      Right.

    26. OW

      Which is the number one thing I would say to you. The... First, let me answer your question.

    27. SI

      Yeah.

    28. OW

      So no, there's nothing, I'm not, I'm not scared to try. I haven't even, uh, I, I have hit my stride-

    29. SI

      Yeah

    30. OW

      ... but I haven't done what I ultimately came to do.

  16. 49:30 – 53:58

    Audience Q&A: proposals, favorite interviews, and being moved by purpose

    1. OW

      Aren't we gonna take some questions?

    2. SI

      Yeah. So that's what I wanted to say. I'd love to open it up.

    3. OW

      And everybody has a class at 1:15, right?

    4. SI

      That's-

    5. OW

      Okay, I'll get you out of here.

    6. SI

      [laughs]

    7. OW

      [laughs] They told me hard out 1:00.

    8. SI

      Yeah. But, um, so we think we have... Do we have a first question from Twitter coming forward?

    9. SI

      Thank, thank you all for tweeting, uh, throughout the session. The first question asked today was Matt Sacedo who asked, "Will you marry me?"

    10. SI

      [laughs] Oh, it looks like he's up there with the-

    11. SI

      We, uh- Matt, where's the ring.

    12. OW

      Matt, do we, do, do we, do we need marriage?

    13. SI

      [laughs]

    14. OW

      Oh, my God, that's gonna be such a prenup between us, I gotta say.

    15. SI

      [laughs] What else you got, Andre?

    16. OW

      Thank you.

    17. SI

      And, and then we had Javier Hernandez-

    18. OW

      [laughs]

    19. SI

      ... who asked, "Oprah, who has been your favorite interviewee, and why?"

    20. OW

      Well, actually, um, I would have to say i- I, there are so many over the years. And, uh, the truth is that the people whose names that I can't even remember, and you probably wouldn't remember, have been the most revelatory, the most impactful. I mean, watching people step out of tragedies and, and, and, and define triumph for themselves, those people really have been the ones that really shaped me and made me a better human being. Um, I did an interview once with a woman and, actually with Dr. Phil, where she had come to the show and was planning to kill herself afterwards, she said, because her daughter had been murdered eight, uh, years before, and she couldn't get past it. And she just wanted to come on, on the Oprah Show and talk about it. And Phil said to her, um, "Why do you spend all your time lamenting, all these years lamenting the death instead of celebrating the life? You've let the one day define your daughter's entire life." And she looked up at him and she said, "You know, I never thought about it that way before," with tears. I could feel that that, the shift in her. So the most important moments for me have been when literally I can see that somebody has made a shift in the way they see themselves in the world or, you know, what we call now an a-ha moment. Those, I, I live for that. I live for that. Those are, those are my favorite interviews. But most recently, I just, uh, last week interviewed Pharrell.

    21. SI

      Yeah, we-

    22. OW

      Oh, my God.

    23. SI

      Oh, my goodness.

    24. OW

      I was so happy.

    25. SI

      You made him cry. But you made him cry.

    26. OW

      I didn't make him cry.

    27. SI

      [laughs]

    28. OW

      I didn't make him cry, Amanda.

    29. SI

      But he cried and it was, but it was happy tears.

    30. OW

      Yeah. I, I would have to say. I don't go after, I don't, I don't actually try to-

  17. 53:58 – 1:04:03

    Final audience questions: climate complexity, self-care, and ‘the next right move’

    1. SP

      Ooh, got the mic. Um, [laughs]

    2. SI

      Introduce yourself so-

    3. SP

      Um, hi, I'm Kirsten. I'm a second-year MBA student here at the GSB. Um, so this week, uh, at the GSB we're hosting something called Climate Week to raise awareness about climate change among, uh, the business students here. And, um, so you've interviewed people like Leo, Al Gore, President Obama on, on this really important issue. And so I wanna see, get a, get a sense from you of how do you navigate raising the level of consciousness, um, around issues like climate change that are important but also very complex and politicized?

    4. SI

      Good question. We came pre- We came prepared today, huh? Wow.

    5. OW

      I do not know the answer to that question.

    6. SP

      [clapping]

    7. OW

      If I knew that, we would, I would've like made it a club and we would've-

    8. SP

      [laughing]

    9. OW

      I would've had everybody come join my environmental club.

    10. SP

      [laughing]

    11. OW

      No, I, I, I don't know. That is such a complex, beautiful question. And the fact that you are even asking it or engaged in the process of trying to figure out the answer thrills me, 'cause that's what would happen here at Stanford. So, but I, I really do not have an answer to that question.

    12. SP

      [laughing]

    13. SI

      Wow.

    14. OW

      Thank you.

    15. SI

      Thank you. Do we have time for one more?

    16. OW

      You have to, 'cause you can't end on a question-

    17. SI

      Yeah, we can't-

    18. OW

      ... I couldn't answer.

    19. SI

      No, no, no, no.

    20. SP

      [laughing]

    21. SI

      Here we go.

    22. OW

      I came, just came here to g- get stumped, yeah.

    23. SP

      [laughing]

    24. SP

      Um, hi Oprah. [laughs]

    25. OW

      Hi.

    26. SP

      My name is Melissa, and I wanted to know, how do you think about balancing selflessness with selfishness?

    27. OW

      Selflessness-

    28. SP

      With selfishness

    29. OW

      ... with... Uh, why are you asking me that question?

    30. SP

      [laughing]

Episode duration: 1:04:03

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