Reading Reflection no.1

The book that I selected to read for this exercise was “The Wright Brothers” by David McCullough.

 You read about an entrepreneur:

• What surprised you the most?

• I was surprised at where the Wright Brothers got their start in business. Orville built his own printing press and with his brother’s help started a successful weekly newspaper. This was prior to them running a bicycle shop. It was also a German glider’s death that motivated the brothers to pursue the idea of fixed winged flight.
• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
• I admired the risk that they took. First they took their lives in their hands by flying in flimsy planes at 60-70mph whit no real protective gear. They took massive financial risk as well. They put all their eggs in the flying basket. After their success at Kitty Hawk they quite the bike business and worked solely on their plane. This was risky because they had no financial backing from investors or a government grant. They were really hoping this would work out for them.
• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
• The Wright brothers had a strange relationship with the reporters. Many people accused
  
  them of failing at some of their flight showcases on purpose to have the reporters. Also on their first few flight showcases in the Midwest they requested that the plane would not be photographed. I did not like this about the Wright brothers because I feel if I had come up with an invention like the plane, I would want to show it to the world. But I understand why they did not because they did not want people to steal their work.  
• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
• The Wright brothers faced adversity in almost every turn they looked at. I mean who said flying was easy? Their initial glider tests in 1900 the glider was not lifting as much as they were hoping for, and had to adjust how the pilot of the glider would land the craft. In their tests the following year they had a few issues in which the glider would stall in the air and Wilbur could have easily been killed if the glider took a nose dive for the
  
  ground, luckily it floated to the ground safely. They had more issues with the lift to drag ratio in their gliders but eventually got all the kinks worked out using scale models and air tunnels they built. They eventually got the point where they could effectively steer the gliders. Then they needed to add a power engine to the plane and then they would be credited with the first maned powered flight. When they encountered a problem, they went back to the drawing board and fixed it and then tested it again.

·         What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

o   The main competency that the entrepreneurs had was mechanical know how, and being smart and resourceful. Wilbur, prior to having a hockey injury and having to take care of his mother was going to attend Yale. Orville had that entrepreneurial spirit. Orville created his own printing press, opened a printing shop. But when he saw a better way

to make money he converted his printing shop into a bike making and repair shop and began making their own brand of bicycles.  Also, they were fearless. They were putting their life at risk, after all they were interested in flight after they read about a man dying in a glider accident.

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

o   I was confused as to why they would go forward and work at flying full time with no other source of income, but I later read why. Because they wanted to keep their ideas and technology secret, which I respect.

·         If you could ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

o   What would you say to your critics and the people who did not believe you that you made the first flight?

§  They had not very good PR and pissed a lot of people off

o   Did you ever see yourselves when inventing the plane how much of a profitable venture it would be?

§  They had a 10% royalty of every plane sold by the Wright Company, as well as a stock option worth up to $1mil, in 1909 money so that’s over $25million today.

·         For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

o   The Wright brothers valued hard work. Wilbur from a relatively young age (high school age) helped his father in the church at which he was a bishop, and worked hard to take care of their mother when she was ill. Also, Orville worked hard for everything that he had in his life and started 3 business endeavors in a pretty short time.  I enjoy work but I don’t think I love work as much as they did.