This interview with Walt Bettinger, C.E.O. of the Charles Schwab Corporation, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

Q. Tell me about your early influences.

A. I had the quintessential Midwest upbringing. Youngest of four kids, grew up in a small farming community in northwest Ohio, and there was a modest-size private university in town. My dad was a chemistry professor. Mom was a stay-at-home mom who was involved in volunteering at a lot of things around town. I worked almost full time at a grocery store for most of high school.

How have your parents shaped your leadership style?

I remember shortly after I graduated from high school, my dad came into my bedroom one Saturday morning and handed me a letter. It was his letter of resignation from the university, which surprised me. My dad was in his early 50s, and it wasn’t something you’d expect from a full tenured professor at his age.

He explained that there had been some animosity between the professors and the administration, and that the professors had voted a union in. He said to me, without making any judgment about whether a union made sense or not, that he felt he had gone into teaching to be in service to others and that the professors were focused more on themselves than on the students. He just didn’t feel that it was in keeping with his principles, and so he resigned. He soon got another job at a different university, but it was just a bit of a shock to me in the moment.