Dan Peña
Led Great Western Resources, an oil company based in Houston, and owns Guthrie Castle in Scotland.
- Industry
- Oil and gas; business coaching
- Format
- Audio interview
- Interviewer
- Richard C. Wilson
- Source
- Billionaires.com interview
Watch the Interview
Exclusive audio interview: Dan Peña with Richard C. Wilson
About Dan Peña
Dan Peña is a billionaire who started out as a financial analyst on Wall Street. He later became president of Great Western Resources, an oil company based in Houston. After that came a series of new businesses. He is well known for owning Guthrie Castle in Scotland, and he openly shares ideas on strategy and mindset with the public. Early on, he volunteered for the draft and was accepted into officer candidate school. About a year later he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He calls that the turning point toward success. Leading men changed everything. So did being in charge of equipment worth tens of millions of dollars, and in one case hundreds of millions. He has spent more than 50 years in business and 30 years coaching others.
What They Shared in the Interview
In Their Words
“You can always make money back, but you can’t make time.”
“So as I learned, the more high profile people that I was around, the more high performance people that I was around, they focused on the few, not the many.”
“You are who you hang around with.”
“But I learned that the higher performance people that you hang with, the better off you’re going to be.”
“Being in charge of tens of millions, in one case, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of equipment, leading men changed my life.”
FAQs
Where did Dan Peña start out?
He began as a financial analyst on Wall Street. He later became president of Great Western Resources, an oil company based in Houston.
What strategy does Dan Peña wish he had learned earlier?
Focus on the few, not the many. He says most people try to do too much, and focusing early would have saved him a lot of time.
What turning point does Dan Peña describe?
He learned that you are who you hang around with. Spending time with senior officers in the Army showed him the value of being around high performers.
