13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

1 - What surprised me most about Andrew Carnegie based on David Nasaw depiction of his life was how poor his upbringing was and how he came from nothing to be one of the wealthiest men alive at the time. What I admired most was his dedication to his philanthropic efforts once he retired from the steel business. What I least admired about him were the questionable methods of obtaining his power and wealth. Carnegie was born into adversity and climbed through it all to rise to his stature. One particular issue he faced was with labor issues and unions which he got through at the expense of his employee-friendly reputation.

2 - I noticed many competencies he exhibited throughout his life, but the main ones were determination, hard-work, effective utilization of resources, opportunistic actions, and management techniques.

3 - One part of the reading I found confusing was how he transformed into a philanthropist after making his money as an unethical, robber-baron. What triggered his change in mindset is still confusing to me.

4 - The first question I would ask him is What he thought was the key to his success? and the next question I would ask him would be What made him turn away from his business and shift his efforts into philanthropy? I would ask him these questions to find out how he attained his success and find out why he did that once he retired because it never made sense to me.

5 - I believe his opinion of hard-work was very high because he could not have achieved his stature without hard-work. He did say that success does not come from endless work, but the right man at the right time, but that right man has to be able to work hard to achieve success.