The Oprah Effect is Contagious

The Right BrainIn his 2005 book, A Whole New Mind, best-selling author and former political speechwriter, Daniel Pink suggested that we’d soon be entering a more conceptual era where storytelling and design will become crucial. These right-brained activities were predicted to be more elemental in conscious communication and contagious leadership than in outsourceable, left-brained activities such as accounting and computer programming. In an interview with Oprah in 2005, Pink said right-brainers would usher in this “new era” of thinking because creativity can’t be outsourced. Fast forward to now as we close out 2016 and we see Pink’s predictions were true. Through creative storytelling, coupled with a team of powerful researchers and mentors behind them, we’ve seen leaders like Oprah spread their effect by simply making ordinary people feel important and by telling narratives people can relate to. She has shown us that an individual can have an amazing effect on the masses by relating as a peer.  Balancing Humility with Confidence + Team Support“Unless you choose to do great things with it, it makes no difference how much you are rewarded, or how much power you have.” --Oprah WinfreyWe’ve talked a lot about the balance between humility and confidence. Perhaps “one person” can make a difference as an influencer if they’ve learned this balance. However, more likely, it is the team behind that person that helps drive a shared cause for the greater good in today’s world. It is the team who shares the vision and helps spread the messages that lift to this influential status. In Oprah’s case, and many other modern influencers’, there is something to be said about influential individualism. When we’re not afraid to fail, and when we believe that our message and road to success is our responsibility, people will start to tune in because they can relate. The Oprah Effect has boosted countless people to strike the balance between humility and confidence, to move through the ranks, and to stand for something greater than themselves. Oprah is clearly a businesswoman we can emulate. She credits her ongoing success as an influencer based on simple ingredients-- thoughtful mentors, a motivated team, and dedication to her audience and customers. What Are You Doing to Grow Your Influence and Make a Difference in Other’s Lives? 1 | Take a moment to consider those around you. Are you choosing mentors and teams who share your vision, and who you can consciously create and become motivated by? I featured friend, professor, editor, and journalist, Leah Stacy as an influencer earlier this year here at Poppy + Seed. I was so excited to work with Leah when we met-- she’s a conscious creator, natural leader and motivating editor! I knew we could create ideas together and, that I could learn from her.

• PROTIP: Usually we equate experience with age. We tend to assume that our mentors should be older than us-- but this shouldn’t be the case. Though Leah is younger than me, I consider her leadership-driven experience and perspective invaluable and our relationship is ultimately ageless.

2 | Develop a sense of humble confidence. Ask yourself whom you emulate and whom you lead? Take notice of the messages or practices of those you emulate that are influencing your habits as a team participant and as a leader. Are they free from ego? Are they socially conscious? Do they exist to help evolve a greater understanding or conversation? 3 | How are you nurturing your relationships with your mentors, peers, teams and consumers? Are you treating them all as equals? How are you investing in them? What are you contributing to these relationships that nourish them?Have you experienced the Oprah Effect? How has your thinking transformed as a conscious creator and how are you nurturing this right-brain phenomena now? Christine has dedicated her career to helping others understand the science of happiness and its powerful effects on everyday human health by harnessing the power of the epigenetic landscape. She is available for both private and professional consultations. Please contact her here.  Artwork by: James Ormiston.