Eighty-five percent of American television owners would rather take on Tony Soprano than Oprah Winfrey in a knife fight. OK, I just made that statistic up. But you know it's true. Winfrey is a gilded deity among humans. She's Queen Midas. Well, hear ye hear ye, as I risk a chance with the guillotine when saying Her Majesty Oprah, according to well-established theories on successful leadership, is a mediocre leader. Off with my head!

Sure, everything she touches turns to gold. The mere second she praises an item, the revving of soccer mom-driven minivans can be heard as they race to local malls around the country. If you've ever seen one of her biannual shows where she lists her favorite things (cleverly titled "Oprah's Favorite Things"), you've seen the terrifying look in her audience members' eyes as she dangles one of her newly endorsed knick-knacks before them. They foam at the mouth. It's carnal.

Because her Midas touch has become so widely accepted, we forget its dark side. Everything she scorns turns to dust. Think about author James Frey, who watched his career curl up and die on syndicated after Oprah caught him lying on her show about the truth of his autobiography. Think about the time a sales assistant at the upscale boutique Hermes didn't allow Oprah in the store after hours. The couture company has yet to regain its composure-all because Mama O wanted silk scarves after closing time.

Maybe that's why we're all too scared to admit that, in terms of leadership, she has fundamentally failed. According to a 1962 theory about successful leadership created by doctors Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, good leaders care about their product and their people equally.

Oprah doesn't have ill will for her followers, and I wouldn't say she is selfish. But, however powerful she may be, she still needs a successful show to keep her crown. That means ratings are the priority and her daily message often takes the back seat.

Newsweek recently published an article challenging Oprah's medical advice. An icon she may be, but a doctor she is not (though if she fudged the documents, I'm sure even the American Medical Association wouldn't challenge it). On her show, Winfrey has hosted celebrities including Jenny McCarthy and Suzanne Somers and allowed these Hollywood starlets to shell out faulty medical advice.

McCarthy stated that we should avoid giving children vaccinations because they increase the chance of autism, which is medically unproven and unsound. Somers suggested women inject themselves daily with hormones found usually in male urine to look and stay young (medically unproven and yucky). Because Oprah needs big names to keep a big show, often the advice she endorses can be questionable (to say the least). Her show's success is more important than those sitting at home watching it every day at 4 p.m.

She fought back (duh-she's freakin' Oprah Winfrey, man) by saying, "I trust the viewers, and I know that they are smart and discerning enough to seek out medical opinions that may be best for them." She's ignoring the power of her enterprise. Without fail, if Oprah likey, America likey. That's potentially dangerous.

Oprah, a leader of her own economy (which I now am dubbing the "Oh-Conomy"), needs to decide if she is a persuader or the unbiased host of a talk show.

On a related note, if I am soon found dead in a ditch covered by Oprah magazines of yesteryear, you know at whom you should point the finger. But, for your safety, I don't suggest you do.