Oprah Winfrey: The Secret of My Success

My life is fueled by my being, and the being fuels the doing. So I come from a centered place. I come from a focused place. I come from compassion. It's just my nature. I come from a willingness to understand and to be understood, and I come from wanting 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 more and more financially successful, which was a big surprise to me. I was like, oh my god, this is so exciting. You mean you got more than that $30,000? I got more than $30,000 by the time I was 30. But 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. He's kind of cute today, too. So I could keep my feet on the ground, even though I could get more shoes. And I could understand that it really was because I was grounded. I was doing and continue to this day to do the consciousness work. I work at staying awake. 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, looking for presidents, when people would come in, I'd say, tell me, what is your spiritual practice? And literally, people would go, duh, well, I'm not religious. I said, I didn't ask you about your religion. I asked you what your spiritual practice was. What do you do to take care of yourself? What do you do to keep yourself centered? What do you do to the? And one woman started crying. You know that's not the person. So that's a sign. That's a sign. So to answer your question, everything is fueled that comes from me really wanting to be a better person on Earth. And this is what I know to be true. The reason why the show worked is because I understood that that audience, my viewers, the people who watched us every day, and would come, and just like you all did, get tickets, and they would come with their family. You all just came across campus, but that's good, too. 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? Or saying, well, I went to Oprah with you. I went to Oprah. And I'll at least get me clear for three or four weeks. 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, and has written this fabulous book. You should get it, called Conscious Capitalism. 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, equally as important as the people who are supporting you financially, as your stockholders, if you are 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. But at the core, the core of what really matters, that we are the same. And you know how I know that? Because all of us are seeking the same thing. You're here at this fabulous school, and we'll 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 want to be, and that may be what you've always wanted to do, is to bake pies for people, or bake cakes for people, or to offer your gift, then that's for you. And there's no difference between you and me, except that's your platform. That's your show every day. So my understanding of that has allowed me to reach everyone. And there's no way that you wouldn't, because that's what I truly feel. ♪ music playing ♪