1) The book I decided to read was Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw. One of the things that surprised me the most about Andrew Carnegie was that he was the epitome of the "American Dream". Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, you see Carnegie's name everywhere: libraries, schools, etc. However, you never hear about what his life was like before becoming one of the richest businessmen ever. When he was a teenager in Scotland, his father (a handloom weaver) was not making the money that he once did and Scotland was experiencing a food shortage. His family moved to Pennsylvania with the hope that they could have a better life. Like his father, Carnegie was able to create a better life for himself in America than he would have been able to in his home country of Scotland. The thing that I most liked about Carnegie was that he was a risk-taker. He was so much of a risk-taker that his business partner Tom Scott said that he valued "skyrocketing expansion" and that he was a "dangerous leader" because of this trait. One instance that exemplifies this trait was when he invested in the steel industry. At this time, he invested in many industries like oil and railroads, but he foresaw that steel was going to become a "booming industry" and decided to invest all of his money in it. It definitely took "guts" to invest all of your money into one industry instead of spreading the risk around multiple industries. The thing that I least liked about him was that he was a ruthless businessman. He was running a business around the time that unions started to emerge in the United States. At one point, the steelworkers tried to strike and Carnegie didn't want that to happen, so he had the Pinkertons come and "keep the peace". The Pinkertons and the striking workers ended up fighting where 10 people died. This event ended up being known as the Homestead Strike. There are many other things that Carnegie did that made him a ruthless businessman but the Homestead Strike was one of the craziest ones I read about. Carnegie definitely encountered adversity but the one that put him at the biggest disadvantage was being a young immigrant. Being an immigrant sounds like a very hard thing. You don't know anyone, you don't have a job, or anywhere to live. Carnegie wasn't going to be stopped by this. He pulled himself up by his bootstraps and got a job which paid $1.5 a week, $35 when adjusted for inflation. He ended up using the connections he made at that job to identify opportunities and make money. He ended up becoming a millionaire by 35, which just shows you how much of a hard worker he was.
2) The three competencies I noticed him demonstrate were hard work, opportunity identification, and risk-taking. As far as hard work is concerned, I read that he started from the bottom. He worked at the same cotton mill as his father as a bobbin boy. He would make $1.50 a week. He kept switching jobs and moving up the hierarchy until he had enough money to invest in a railroad company. This demonstrates that he was a hard worker and that he would do anything to make money. He was also great at identifying opportunities and taking risks. When he was in Europe, he heard that there was a new development that made making steel easier, this process was the Bessemer Process. He believed that this process was going to revolutionize steel making. He decided that he was going to invest all of his money in the steel industry. This risk, as we know paid off. It is believed that he made close to $7 billion from his investment in the steel industry.
3) One thing that I found confusing was why he would give away money to build schools and libraries but not money to the people who worked for him. I feel like this doesn't really make much sense. You have people who are working 12 hours a day in a steel mill and they are only making a couple of dollars a day, if that. I have a feeling that it has to do with cutting into his profits while philanthropy doesn't. It just doesn't make much sense to treat those who work for you so poorly, but give your money away "willy nilly" to different causes.
4) The two questions I would ask Andrew Carnegie if I could would have to do with his treatment of workers. The first question I would ask would be if he regrets what happened during the Homestead Strike. Like I said, 10 people died during the strike, which can be attributed to Carnegie calling in the Pinkertons. I think that this knowledge would be weight on his mind and I would want to know if he regrets calling the Pinkertons in to "keep the peace". The next question I would ask him is if he thinks that he would be as successful if todays regulations on workers were in place during the 1800's. I think this question is a good one to ask him because it would give more insight into what he thought about workers' rights and it would show us how he thinks of himself as an entrepreneur.
5) I definitely think that he was a fan of hard work. I have said this a million times so far but he worked five jobs before he made an investment in the railroad industry, which made him his first $1 million. He was definitely a hard worker and thought that it was one of the more important competencies associated with entrepreneurial success. I definitely value hard work but probably not to the extent to which he did. Ever since I could work, I have held a job. I think jobs teach you great skills, and increase your human and social capital. Unlike Carnegie, I think that one job at a time is sufficient enough.
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