Reading Reflection No. 1

I read Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw. Below are my thoughts 

• What surprised you the most?  What surprises me the most about Andrew Carnegie is his rise to the status he is now known for. With little formal education, Andrew was able to navigate his way through menial and laborious jobs until his hard work and dedication began to pay off. My natural assumption was that only rich and prominent businessmen were able to prosper in periods like the Industrial Age, but Andrew was the furthest from that, at least at the beginning of his career. His dedication to learning more, paired with his talent for identifying fruitful financial investments allowed him to ultimately become the richest man of the early twentieth century. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I would have to say that I most admired Andrew Carnegie’s tenaciousness (hint @ 14A). As I briefly said above, Andrew rose from rags to riches, essentially. The interesting thing that comes to mind here, is that there were hundreds, even thousands of others in the same position as Andrew, working low paying, menial jobs. Yet, Andrew sought a way out and didn’t let back for one minute once he identified a way for him to grow his wealth. His determination, discipline, and constant desire to find ways to grow as an individual allowed him to become the man, we now remember him as today. 

• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? Like many others would say, I think, Andrew Carnegie did not have the most moral approaches and tactics when it came to the growth of his wealth. The most prominent story of Carnegie’s career would be the Homestead Strike of 1892, where Carnegie’s newly appointed chairman of Carnegie Steel, Henry Frick decided to cut the wages of workers by fifteen percent. This strike ultimately resulted in the death of 10 people, consisting of both workers and guards. It was later revealed that Andrew approved of Frick’s decisions. Going a step further, the conditions of Andrew’s poorly paid steel workers were deplorable, lacking a sewage system even. 

• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? Back to the point of Andrew’s tenacity and persistence again, yes, he was constantly faced with adversity and failure, but he never let it get the better of him. Andrew’s upbringing alone would deter most from ever attempting to find a way out and towards wealth. Starting with his father becoming unemployed in their home country of Scotland and living in poverty, to immigrating to America with no money, Andrew was already off to a terrible start. Despite all of this, Andrew was eager to help his family and endured low paying and long hour jobs. He began to reap the fruits of his labor, eventually getting promoted and becoming a telegrapher for Tom Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

• What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Despite Andrew’s lack of education and business background, he shockingly learned how to move up the ladder relatively quickly. His ability to take risks and try new things, such as investing and ultimately deciding to open a steel mill, despite iron being the main source of railroad material, allowed him to become a leader and a wealthy one at that. Andrew was also very innovative in his approaches to how to run a business. For example, he implemented various business strategies into his steel mill, including scientific research to ensure they had the most up to date technology. 

• Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. I was not so much confused as I was shocked when reading about Andrew Carnegie’s rise to wealth. I was most astonished by the reality of the “American Dream”, and that it was almost entirely possible for someone to become the Bill Gates of their time by simply doing what most of us do now...working hard and diligently, constantly improving ourselves, both academically and professionally, and taking advantage of opportunities when presented. 

• If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? I would ask the most common of questions, I think, first being whether or not he would do anything differently. Considering Andrew ended his career and life as an extremely generous person, donating over three hundred million dollars in the form of gifts and creating the Carnegie Endowment, which is aimed at advancing world peace, I would be interested if he still would have engaged in the shady and less moral deals that took place early on in his career. The second question would be, what advice he would have to offer for aspiring business owners of today’s world. 

• For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Andrew’s opinion of hard work, at least as far as I understand it, is constantly looking for ways and avenues to grow. Even when you’ve found success, identify ideas and search for ways that will aid your growth and ultimately allow you to help others in the end.