Reading Reflection #1

1) What surprised you the most?

• What surprised me the most was how different safety standards and people's views of risk were back during the Wright brother's time period. Because there has not been all of the experience and knowledge we have now with flights and crashes, the viewpoints and standards back then were much different. I would almost say it was more shocking than surprising. After reading about Orville's crash and other flight fatalities, I was just surprised at how much more precautious and safety-oriented we would be in similar situations today. Death is much more rare now in fatal crashes because of our heightened senses and awareness from past instances. 
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• What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
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• I admire many different things about the Wright brothers, but above all I admire their curious and driven mindset. On page 18, Orville said that Wilbur's most special characteristic was his "intellectual curiosity”, and I think that applies to the both of them. Their intellectual curiosity and drive to accomplish something great was what I most admired. Especially with their lack of a degree, I admire how the brothers taught themselves what they needed to know in order to pursue the challenge of human flight. Without any information learned in school, their own curiosity drove them to learn and teach themselves. They knew each other and their individual ways of thinking so well that they were able to complement each others' skillsets. Because of their drive and pure intellectual curiosity, they were endlessly dedicated to their invention and making it happen. I also admired their close relationship with their family and how much they valued their relationships with their family members, because that is also a personal value of mine. Even when Orville became sick with the fever after drinking contaminated water, Wilbur and Katherine took turns by his side to make sure he was okay. Wilbur even credited him and his brother's success to how they were well-raised by their parents. Their bond was pure and real. It can be hard to work so closely with a family member, but they made their relationship work to their advantage and they got along extremely well.
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• What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? 
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• It was difficult to try and think about something I didn't admire about the Wright brothers, because I think what they accomplished is a miracle and believe they are true geniuses and entrepreneurs. However, I was surprised when Orville was not by Wilbur's side when he tested their first model of a human glider back in 1899. Considering their tight bond and how much they helped each other in a variety of different ways, I expected that Orville and Wilbur would be together for every step of the process. Different things can go wrong during first tests and experiments and it could have potentially been dangerous for Wilbur, so in my opinion I think Orville should've been there. Wilbur went to Kitty Hawk and had to travel the dangerous journey there himself.
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• Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
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• They definitely encountered a lot of adversity and failure throughout their trials inventing human flight. Beginning with the flood that hit the town they lived in, Dayton, the brothers were faced with adversity as they had to help their community survive during this devastating time. The flood was the worst flood that they had been hit with in the last 40 years and luckily the bike shop they worked at was safe, but thousands of people were still left abandoned with ruined homes.  However, the brothers were able to grow through these adverse moments and become driven by the tragedy to come up with new ideas--like flight! They also had other obstacles like their lack of a formal education and training on the subject of aviation and engineering, but overcame this through teaching themselves. They struggled and encountered failure every time they encountered someone who did not believe in them or think they were capable of accomplishing what they wanted to. They did not have a very large support system besides their close family, and did not have people investing in them or financially supporting them like there would be today. Once again, they did not let any of these bumps in the road hinder them from their vision and researched, learned, and conducted trials all on their own. They encountered many instances of failure throughout their tests and trials trying to invent an airplane and make human flight possible, but they never once let failure stop them. Things like malfunctions of the model and extreme weather that would destroy their models never stopped them. In chapter 3 especially, they ran into so many failures with their tests and used these to refine their learning and build on past research to fill in the gaps. They never stopped working hard and never lost their desire to learn more and improve. 

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

I noticed that they worked extremely well together and never became greedy or competitive, which I know can often be the issues with family members working together and both wanting success. They were generous and humble and most importantly, had amazing collaborative teamwork skills. Despite such a stressful, sometimes seemingly impossible, and daunting mission that they wanted to accomplish, they never ceased to work well on a team together. They knew how to never lose their concentration and stay focused on their goals. Wilbur specifically was also very skilled at things like public speaking, writing, and was able to concentrate without fail. They also had a lot of self-confidence and self-belief, which I believe is one of the most important things for an entrepreneur. They did not ever think they needed outside help and only needed each other to build off of their ideas and grow. 

They also obviously had amazing mechanical skills and were innovative and creative in everything they dreamed up. They understood machines and the art of inventing so well through their unique ways of thinking. They were both geniuses, but also led with good hearts and their respect for each other.

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

It was confusing to me how not many other people were as driven to inventing flight besides them. People tried, but no one had the same drive for invention as they did. Flight was a genius idea that would solve a lot of problems and it surprised/confused me how people did not also become obsessed with their idea and try to invest their own lives in it. Perhaps they were intimated, did not think it was truly possible, or just wanted to sit back and wait for them to become successful and invent it? They did not even receive funding from other people which confused me because, as I mentioned, people should want flight to be invented to better society. Even the government did not fund them, which I'm sure would have been done today. 

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

When you would watch birds in your free time, what went through your mind? What were you looking for and noticing? 

I would ask this because I was wondering how they could just look at birds flying, mimick them, and somehow apply this to their knowledge and ideas. 

Despite your obvious genius, why did you not try to pursue some higher education and learn mechanics and engineering in a school setting?

I'm curious about this because learning this in school by other mechanical engineers and aviation specialists may have made their research processes easier.

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

I definitely think that the Wright brothers opinions on hard work had no limit. They were not discouraged or halted by anything, and were extremely determined and motivated to work hard. They motivated each other, which I'm sure helped. I would definitely say I share the opinion that with a limitless of hard work, you can try to accomplish anything you want. However, I would have become discouraged a lot more than the Wright brothers and would have wanted to seek outside help from others that could potentially help me. They were more determined to do it on their own with limited outside help or even an education (which I'm also lucky to be able to get).