Reading Reflection No. 1 (ENT3003 Assignment 13A)

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

1. About the entrepreneurs:
• What surprised me the most was that while the Wright brothers were making strides and perfecting motorized flight as early as 1903, both the military and the press showed no interest. Due to the recent failure of Professor Langley, everyone was skeptical on the reports of the brothers' success and didn't bother to do their due diligence. It wasn't until two years later in 1905, that they started getting the recognition and credit that they deserved, thanks in part to Amos I. Root publishing their achievements in his Gleanings in Bee Culture periodical.
• The most admirable trait of the Wright brothers was how they were able to use their own unique personalities to both take on roles as leaders in their own right and work as a team.
• What I admire least about the Wright brothers is that they didn't seem to be too family-oriented. While they were inseparable, and it looks like they had a good connection with their father and younger sister, there is not much mention of their relationship with their two older siblings or their mother before her passing. Furthermore, neither of them were interested in starting a family of their own.
• As mentioned earlier, they faced adversity early on before they were officially recognized. Despite this adversity, they did not let it faze them and instead were continuously looking to make improvements and even sell their invention. The Wright brothers each went through some failures as well. Wilbur had to rebuild a Flyer from scratch in France, pretty much by himself, before giving a demonstration of a lifetime with it and closing a deal that was being stalled for about a year. In that same summer of 1908, back in the United States, Orville broke records in front of some prospective military clients before getting into an accident an severely injuring himself while also killing his passenger. With the help of his sister, he took time off to recover and they also went overseas to join Wilbur in his success, before coming back healthy and finally closing the military deal.
2. The biggest competency that the Wright brothers shared was that they were determined to see their aviation inventions through no matter what. They were only able to fly together once, and it was after they were well established. This was due to a pact that the brothers made to never fly together because if the flight went bad and killed one of them then the other would still be alive to carry on the business plan.
3. What confused me the most about this reading was the lack of an education by the Wright brothers. Seeing how Milton fits the mold of a consummate father who preaches hard work amongst other things, it was quite odd to discover that he encouraged them to skip school if they favored his library of books at home instead. Even more strange, however, is seeing how well that approach worked out.
4. If I were able to ask two questions to the Wright brothers, my first will be why they didn't pursue a family? I can understand if they needed to focus on their work while they were still perfecting their craft, but after that I feel like there was more than enough time to refocus their efforts on continuing their legacy through their family and not just their work. My second question would be why they had a joint bank account? I can relate to having an inseparable sibling in which I share interests and career goals with, but that doesn't entail having to share a bank account with him as well.
5. As I explained earlier, the Wright brothers' idea of hard work is not for the weak-minded; their death pact proves that. I actually feel like I have a similar opinion of working hard and getting things done my any means necessary.