The troubled childhood of Peña, who grew up in East Los Angeles, led many to believe he would never amount to much.
Peña reinvented himself, however, and went on to become a successful business entrepreneur. In 1984, he bought a castle in Angus, Scotland. In an interview for "LA Times Today," Louis Sahagun joined host Lisa McRee to discuss Peña's lectures, which cost thousands of dollars to participate in.
Peña refers to himself as a "Chicano de oro," which means a "Golden Chicano" because of his net worth. However, he had a troubling youth and even tried to drop an aquarium on a teacher's head from a second-story window. Thankfully, the teacher moved, and it hit him on the shoulder and dislocated his collarbone.
Peña traces his desire to make money to an Army hitch in Europe, where he saw American tourists flashing rolls of cash, staying in luxury hotels and dining in four-star restaurants. After leaving the Army as a 2nd lieutenant, he earned his bachelor's degree in business administration at Cal State Northridge.
"He focused all the anger against his father in a business career," said Sahagun. "After graduating, he invested the little money he had in oil stocks, and he turned it into a company that he started with $820 that went on to be worth $450 million in no time."
As his oil company's chairman, president and chief executive, Peña lived an unapologetic luxurious lifestyle. That lifestyle and his no-holds-barred personality contributed to his departure from the company when the board directors ousted him.
"The board of directors of the company he founded was fed up with his lavish lifestyle, with his alligator boots and Havana cigars. They also thought he was making bad decisions, so they booted him out. What happened then was he did what Americans do best. He reinvented himself again," added Sahagun.
Peña branded himself as a teacher of business philosophy courses, which he made up by himself. And in 1984, he bought a 16th-century Scottish castle as a business strategy.
"One of his former students put it best to me: He said, 'These are courses you go to when you need tough love, not a hug.' He pushes relentlessly searching for one's weak points, and then he drills into them the idea of making students tougher, just like his father did when he was five years old," said Sahagun.
Overall, his students have good things to say about Peña's teaching style and the tough love that comes with it.
"A few students who dropped the $30,000 and were not satisfied with Peña's promises of success but others loved the classes and said it worked for them," said Sahagun.
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