Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action

Chapter 4

Truth

The truth is more important than the facts.

—Frank Lloyd Wright

Always tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to remember what you said.

—Mark Twain

 

Phil Donahue didn’t know it yet, but his days were numbered. His self-titled Phil Donahue Show had been nationally syndicated since 1970, and by 1984 he had risen to become the undisputed king of daytime television, watched by millions every day.

That year, A.M. Chicago was the show stuck at a distant second place in the 9 a.m. timeslot that Donahue dominated. With little to risk, they decided to bring in a new and relatively unknown actor and beauty queen with very little experience to anchor the program. No one expected much from her.

In her first few months, she modeled her show’s format to be exactly like Donahue. She borrowed her interviewing technique directly from watching Barbara Walters on television. Yet despite her inexperience, audiences responded to her. Early critics were even complimentary, noting that she stood out as “more genuine, and far better attuned [than Donahue] to her audience, if not the world.”¹

Within months, her show took over the number one slot in the regional Chicago local market. In two years her show was nationally syndicated and already competing with Donahue. It was a quick start, but looking backward it was only on November 10, 1986, that this up and coming host named Oprah Winfrey would show a glimpse of becoming the legend we now know simply as Oprah.

Oprah’s Secret

On that ...