Reading Reflection No. 1

1. Andrew Carnegie

   A) The Thing that surprised me the most about Andrew Carnegie was that at one point he was the richest man in the world. I never knew this before reading the book and at his time to accomplish such a feat and accumulate the wealth he did is still mind boggling.

   B) I most admired his ability to think and stay several steps ahead of his competition. He constantly found new ways to make money and gain success and connections, while others were living in the past. He learned to beat the system on several occasions. My favorite example of Carnegie staying ahead of the competition was early in his life he was trying to gain funding so he could win a contract to build the Keystone Bridge. He had to gain commitments from other companies to secure business, just so he could begin selling bonds and stock. All of this was before a piece of rail was laid down.

   C) The thing I least admired about Carnegie was that in order to build his empire he, at times, took shortcuts. For example, he would buy and sell shares in companies that he knew did not have enough assets despite their high stock value. He practiced a lot of insider trading early in his career, while not illegal at the time, makes me a little skeptical on some of his profits because he did not take the most honest route to acquire wealth.

   D) Carnegie faced adversity from birth. He was born to very poor parents who had never had much wealth their entire lives. He then immigrated to the United States when he was just 12 years old with his family. The family had to sail across the Atlantic then find a way to get to Allegheny City so they could meet up with relatives, who were also poor. It was a turbulent beginning to his life, however, Carnegie had a positive disposition and was able to overcome the troubles that he faced. I think this is why becoming the richest man in the world is even more impressive.

2. What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?

Carnegie was an excellent speaker and this competency allowed him to both raise funds, when needed, and build connections. Being able to communicate is a skill that most people do not have to his level. There are many pictures in the book of Carnegie walking and talking with important individuals that helped shape where Carnegie ended up in life. Clearly being able to communicate his values and plans was a huge competency for Carnegie. Carnegie was also a great philanthropist. This is another competency that proves a great man. He gave away most of his enormous fortune by the time he died. He helped fund schools, libraries, and determine where education would go in the United States. To keep a focus on the truly important things in life despite such enormous wealth is very noble. Not as important as the other two but Carnegie was also an above-average golfer and played at some of the best clubs in the world.

3. Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing.

For the most part the book was broken down very neatly. Each of the forty-two chapters were generally short so the information was never too confusing. The first couple chapters were hard to follow though. The book is an biography so the author was talking about his whole family and their family. By not being in the first person it was difficult to follow who everyone was or how important they were in his life. I think there was just too much information about unimportant aspects. The author also included pieces of Carnegie's autobiography. The combination of opinions was hard to follow.

4. If you were able to ask any two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

   A) The first question I would ask is where did his quest for philanthropy begin? I would ask him this because to give up most of your wealth, you have to have some big, overarching reason for doing so. I would just want to pick his brain about the value he places on education and how his donations helped further education in the United States.

   B) The next question I would ask is how he overcame so much in his early years to end up where he did. I would ask this because poverty and the rich-poor gap is a problem for so many Americans today. Yet, he overcame all of this as an immigrant and then some. I would like to figure out if the time period helped him out or if it was simply his desire to build the Carnegie name.

5. What do you think the entrepreneur's opinion of hard work was? Do you share this opinion?

I think that even though he may have taken a few shortcuts in his life, that he would preach hard work and dedication to your job. I would like to say I share these exact sentiments. I too will cut corners when I can to make my life easier, however, when it comes to getting a job done, I will work relentlessly to accomplish my goals.