13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

ENT3003

Chris Ward

1) You read about an entrepreneur: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

·       What surprised you the most? Of course, we all know the story of the Wright Brothers but what surprised me most was that fact that they didn’t do it alone.  They received very valuable help from their bike shop mechanic Charlie Taylor.  He built the engine for their flying machine when no other manufactures could.  Also, I’d like to say that all the trouble they had with patent filing and lawsuits was a surprise but that seems par for the course for anybody that tries to invent something so revolutionary.

·       What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?  I admire the Wright brother’s tenacity the most.  They had an idea and stuck with it for years.  Building their machine and shipping it to Kittyhawk year after year for testing. Instead of thinking of their repetitive trips as failures they thought of them as learning experiences.

·       What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? This is difficult to determine, what they did and how they did it changed the world.  Maybe they could have given more credit to Charlie Taylor for his collaboration in the entire process.

·       Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?  The Wright brothers experienced much adversity and failures.  They spent years trying different gliders at Kittyhawk, learning from each attempt and trying again.  Once they finally completed the first powered and controlled flight in 1903, they still had to deal with patent issues and lawsuits for years after.

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

The Wright Brothers knew they were going to change the world, so they kept moving forward no matter what issues they had.  Tenacity in my opinion was the competency they exhibited the most.

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

Their relationship with Samuel Langley was confusing to me.  At one point it seemed like Langley was spying on them to help his own efforts in flight.  Which is probably true.

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

·      Why was building this flying machine more important to you than having a family?

Many successful business owners that I personally know don’t have families and I often wonder if it is worth it.

·      How did it make you feel to have built your flying machine with its unique engine and controls and have to fight for a patent and deal with lawsuits for all those years?

Dealing with all that would be defeating for most people, I wonder how they were able to stick to it.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?  The Wright Brothers are the definition of hard work.  Spending months at a time in Kittyhawk trying and failing and repeating that process for years is something not many people could do.  I certainly appreciate the work they put into their idea but I’m not sure I would be able to do the same.  Of course, my idea for a coffee shop isn’t going to change the world like flight did so the amount of hard work needed will be relative.