John Chambers, president and CEO, Cisco

My mom and dad have had the greatest impact on me professionally. They were both doctors, and they taught me how to be calm under pressure. In terms of business leaders, Jack Welch has been inspirational, primarily in terms of his philosophies - such as being No. 1 or No. 2 in your industry as well as learning how to deal with the world the way it is.

In addition, his Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan has had a major influence on me. He is in a very challenging spot in the world where his only natural resources are his people, and he is currently focusing half of his budget on education. So his ability to balance the short-term and long-term objectives for his country, even under the utmost of pressure, is something I truly admire and am learning a great deal from.

Eva Chen, CEO, Trend Micro

Steve Chang, my brother-in-law and now chairman/founder of Trend Micro, has been my direct mentor in business. Steve, my sister Jenny and I basically worked together from the beginning of the company in the 1980s. Steve always said, "Be the best part of yourself." This means know yourself, focus more on your strengths rather than your weaknesses, and apply those strengths against any position you hold. Actually, the word "trend" in Chinese ideogram is complex - it means "go where the energy goes." Steve calls it using free energy as a business practice.

In the early days Steve and I knew I had to go where the gaps in the business were. I rotated through various jobs over time - manufacturing and global logistics, regional office start-ups, marketing, CTO and now CEO. At times of uncertainty I always recall the sentence "be the best part of yourself," and I overcome the hesitation to take on new challenges.

Another Steve - Steve Jobs - well, he is my hero, though I have never met him. I admire his persistence and ability to come back. He has a passion for innovation and perfectionism for the customer. He was away from the company and came back even stronger and more focused. I did the same by choice.

My art teachers also have influenced me - they helped me look at the big picture, zoom in on the details and zoom back out to see how all the pieces fit together. That is very important for a CEO. Even my Pilates instructor makes me think about the business differently. If I have terrible pain in my neck, I may have to exercise my back or my stomach to make the pain go away. If there is an issue that seems to be in one part of our business, sometimes we have to look at an entirely different part of the business to fix the issue.