Career Leadership Interview Paper

Throughout career leadership academy we have already learned many important tools and techniques to help us become better leaders in the work place and even just in the classroom. To expand on this, I have interviewed a mentor and alumni of my fraternity whom I do not know well to discuss his leadership styles, roles within his company, and the effectiveness of the styles of leadership he uses. The person I chose to interview for this assignment was Robert Samples. Rob samples is currently the President at Health IT Consulting located around the Des Moines area. He is self-employed and does most of his work from home, managing small groups and many contractors to make sure the work of his company is done correct and efficiently. Along with

I asked him about what made him choose his career path and then he went on to explain he could have never imagined doing what he does today back when he was in school. He went to the University of Iowa and while here switched his major multiple times until he finally ended up in accounting. He finished his degree and went on to work but realized that he absolutely hated what he did. He then got involved in some health IT work with a different company and eventually started doing it himself because he is a smart man and knew what gaps needed to be filled to make a better company than the one he ended up at. He started his business and got many contractors involved and now works in small groups and produces health products and programs for the United States government. He then went on to talk about how he got his accounting degree just so he could make money but it was not accounting that he ended up doing because he found a passion in what he does now. Sure, the accounting knowledge did help, but he said if he were to go back to school and get a degree it would be for something he loves such as film-making or production of some sort because it is something he really cares about. I found this extremely intriguing because it relates to so many students now and how he ended up where he is compared to where he though he would be when he was younger. He also discussed what his company looks for in new employees and though he does not have a ton of employees, he finds the ones he thinks will be best for the job. He looks for dedicated employees and contractors to work for him that are not going to waste his time and resources. Rob is a get to it and get it done kind of guy but he does it in a nice way, holding meetings, being available to answer any questions, and being very involved in projects making sure everything is staying on track to