Here's something I heard about Oprah which is consistent with the wikipedia article but not included in it. People had been talking about wanting more positive talk shows, so Oprah decided to have one. This is a rationality skill because she explored giving people what they said they wanted instead of being offended that they didn't like what she was already doing.

It's possible that her gimmick was the result of some thought about the question of how to do a positive talk show while keeping it interesting.