Countless students dream about rising to a position of leadership in their future careers. Junior Shahab Moghadam is one of those students, but rather than dream, he decided to learn about how to be a leader by reaching out to people who have been in the most prestigious positions of leadership.
Moghadam has written a 125-page book titled “My Interviews,” containing a compilation of his interviews with prominent leaders such as former President Bill Clinton and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The interviews took about six years to gather.
At age 10, Moghadam was assisted by Saratoga History Museum curator April Halberstadt as he began a leadership project. Moghadam interviewed a plethora of people around the world who hold or have held a wide variety of leadership positions in order to understand how to be an effective leader. He didn’t originally intend on compiling the interviews into a book, but eventually chose to do so after finishing his interviews.
“When I began my interview project six years ago, I only had the vague idea that I would eventually use [the project] to advance my understanding of the concept of leadership,” Moghadam said.
Moghadam’s book contains 37 interviews he conducted with prominent civic leaders, politicians and businessmen. He began writing his book during the summer of 2011 and finished it in January.
Although his book won’t be printed for sale in a physical form, Moghadam is appealing to the newer generation of readers by selling his book in e-book form, which can be read on popular electronic readers.
According to Moghadam, he published his book in e-book form using Lulu Publishing and Kindle Direct Publishing.
His book is available for purchase on the Amazon Kindle store and will be available for purchase on the Nook and on the iBookstore.
Moghadam has been following politics for many years, even before he embarked upon starting the leadership project.
“I first got interested in politics at the age of 5, when I paid close attention to the electoral debacle of 2000,” Moghadam said.
Moghadam has switched allegiances to the Republican party since leaving the Democratic party in 2011 over a lack of faith in the principles and actions of the party.
In 2008, he campaigned for Obama, but this year he pledged support first to Republican Jon Huntsman and later Ron Paul after Huntsman dropped out of the race.
According to Moghadam, he does social media advocacy and makes phone calls to important primary states for Ron Paul.
Moghadam is drawn in by politics due its potential to influence the lives of people around the world. He has even met Bill and Hillary Clinton during the previous presidential campaign at a fundraiser here in Saratoga. Moghadam took a picture with him and asked him a question about Iran policy.
He has met the Obamas, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. John Edwards, and Prince Edward.
Moghadam has conducted many his interviews through email and regular mail and has spoken on the phone with domestic leaders and several foreign ministry spokespeople.
Out of all of his interviews, Moghadam is proudest of three specific interviews.
“[I have interviewed] the Marine Corps Commandant James F. Amos, former Austro-Hungarian Archduke Otto Von Hapsburgand and the last-surviving Canadian World War I veteran Jack Babcock,” Moghadam said.
He hopes his experience will assist him toward becoming a government official in the future.
“I aim to hold elected political office in order to be able to implement positive and meaningful change,” Moghadam said.
As stated in his book, leaders must be willing to stand up for what they believe in no matter how unpopular this belief may be. Leaders must live by their own words and dedicate themselves to serving the people.
