A Personal Investment

In today's tough economy sometimes your best investment is in yourself.

John Chen is CEO of Dublin, California based Sybase. A world leader in information technology. But early in his engineering career at another company, Chen was told he would never get promoted, primarily because he was Asian and had trouble speaking English. So he shelled out $2,000, his entire monthly salary at that time, to hire a husband and wife broadcasting team to teach him presentation and public speaking skills.

"It was a worthwhile investment, probably the best investment I ever made, but it's the willingness to do something different. A lot of people ask me to speak and I always tell people this is just about accepting challenges, don't accept stereotypes. You can do better and you should do better."

Today his company is one of the world leaders in wireless computing and just sold to Germany based SAP for $5.8 billion, making his stockholders very happy. Chen is grateful for his success in America, but says breaking through stereotypes and facing down challenges has been equally rewarding.