27A- Reading Reflection No.3

Andrew Carnegie, David Nasaw

1.   What surprised me the most? – The thing about Andrew Carnegie that surprised me the most is what he decided to do with his fortune. The fact that he decided to become the world’s largest philanthropist and donate so much of his money was extremely surprising to me.

b.      What did I admire the most? – The thing about Andrew Carnegie that I admire the most is his ingenuity. When faced with a multitude of struggles his intellect and intuition is what helped him build his empire.

c.       What did you dislike the most? – The thing about Andrew Carnegie I dislike the most is the way he treated his workers. It is documented that his workers would be under paid even though they were working long hours in extremely dangerous and hazardous environments.

d.      Did the entrepreneur face adversity? Then what did he do? – Andrew Carnegie has faced a lot of adversity in his life and part of the reason why he was able to create his dynasty was due to how he handled the adversity. When faced with bills that could have driven him bankrupt Carnegie revolutionized the steel making process cementing him in history.

2. What competencies did I observe? – The skills that I observed Carnegie has is he is a sort of jack of all trades. He understood business and steel making so he used his knowledge and proficiency in those two subjects and used that to build his business.

3. One part of the reading that was confusing? – I was extremely confused when he decided to use his fortune for philanthropy without thinking about his family or workers first, as the workers were under paid.

4. What two questions would you ask? – The first question I would ask is “Why steel?”, the reason why is, we know that he revolutionized steel making but I would like to know what motivated him to want to do that. The second question I would ask is “What message would you like to leave to the world?”, the reason why is, I want to know what moral compass drove Andrew Carnegie and I would like a deeper understanding of how he thinks.

5. What was the entrepreneur’s opinion of hard work? – I believe that Andrew Carnegie would think that hard work is necessary to create success. It was those sleepless nights that Carnegie worked despite almost being bankrupt that created his fortune and legacy.