If you haven??t heard by now, scandal has come to Oprah??s Leadership Academy for Girls, the school she built in South Africa to ??create a safe place that would inspire them to greatness as much as honor their South African heritage.?
Now, after allegations of sexual and physical abuse have hit the school, ??safe? and ??honor? are being called into question.
Leadership, though, simply can’t be. In response to the allegations, Oprah has delivered the following, as reported on ABCnews.go.com:
??Talk show host Oprah Winfrey said today that the allegations of sexual and physical abuse by a matron at her all-girls South African leadership academy have “been one of the most, if not the most devastating experience of my life.”
The allegations have “shaken me to my core,” Winfrey said at a Chicago news conference this morning.
Winfrey promised, however, that the school will continue to fulfill its goal of becoming a “model for the world,” and will show that “the resilience of the human spirit” is stronger than poverty, abuse and hatred. She also took care to praise the leadership and courage of 15 girls who came forward to report the alleged abuse.?
Oprah??s response to this news has been nothing short of beautiful. And her reaction has been a case study in crisis management for CEOs, business leaders and people in all walks of life.
Let??s recap the actions she??s taken to address this most serious matter:
? She took full responsibility
?? “The buck always stops with me,” said Winfrey as she explained that she is redefining staff hiring procedures at the academy. She added that the abuse allegation will allow her to “completely correct course” at her academy.”
? She took immediate action
?? ??When the scandal broke, Makopo was immediately put on leave without pay. Authorities have thanked Winfrey for conducting her own private investigation into the matter, which helped expedite the process.?
?? ??Principal Dr Nomvuyo Mzamane was suspended at the start of the probe and her contract would not be renewed.?
? She acted quickly to restore confidence
?? “I arrived at the school with (child psychiatrist) Dr. Bruce Perry before the team. I spoke to all the girls and encouraged them to come forward, telling them that although they felt they were in an atmosphere that repressed them, they should take their voices back.
?? “By the next day five more came to me. So I removed all the dorm parents and put the teachers on rotating shifts.”
? She??s thankful to those who have been helping her
?? ??I??d like to thank the South African Police Services for bringing this investigation at my Academy to a timely resolution. I am grateful for their compassion and sensitivity to the girls during this difficult time. It means the world to me. It is my deepest hope that the accused is brought to justice and that this serves as a reminder that any time a child has the courage to step forward, it is our duty as adults to listen and take immediate action.?
? She is fully accessible to those who matter most ?? the girls at her academy
?? “Hoping to avoid future scandal, Oprah has also bought all 152 students their own cell phones, programmed with her personal phone number and she has told them that they can call her anytime ?? day or night.”
????????????
As one ABC News reporter put it ?? in the video on this page ?? Oprah has put a lot of ??time, money and emotion? into this endeavour. I say you would know that by how she??s reacted to this scandal.
Leadership. Seems to me that this is the perfect name for a school built by Oprah.
Related stuff:
? Here are some of the articles I’ve referenced here: ABCNews, IOL, MSNBC.
? In an unrelated move by Oprah, she’s started her own YouTube channel. Nicely done!
November 6th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Pretty impressive response, indeed. I wonder if this incident would’ve ever come close to making the national news if it involved anyone other than Oprah?
Fortunately for her and her school, Oprah’s morals and values provide a good starting point from which to act. In addition, if brands had as much power and money as Oprah, I think we’d see responses to crises improve drastically across the board.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
I don’t think a proper response should come down to financial resources, Ryan. The things she did were small things that anyone could do. How she did them was big. What this came down to was values, not value.
(Of course, the money didn’t exactly hurt the situation.)
November 6th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I definitely agree Mark. She handled the situation quite well, and there’s much we can learn from the actions she took. Taking responsibility, initiating immediate action and restoring confidence can often be difficult, but she went about it calmly and effectively.
I think her massively popular personal brand also helped in the recovery process. People know who she is, what she’s like, and how she normally conducts herself. Even though this incident reflected poorly on her, she has already established herself in a very good light, which usually leads to people being slightly more forgiving.
And I guess my remark about money was in regards to the purchase of 152 personalized cell phones ;-)
November 6th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Agree with you here, Ryan ?? except that I don’t think this incident reflects poorly on her.
She’s built a school to give girls a chance they otherwise wouldn’t have. She obviously can’t police it from Chicago, and must put her trust in those she hires. When the scandal broke, she acted quickly and decisively. And she took real measures to reestablish trust.
I think she goes in looking good and comes out of it looking even better.
[As for the phones, isn’t that like you or me buying 152 pieces of beef jerkey? ;-)]
November 8th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Hi mark, I copletely agree with you and especailly like how you pinpointed the ways in which she took such positive and quick action.
November 8th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Thanks for chiming in, Gilda. I think you picked the perfect post to comment on. Think I missed anything else Oprah did right?