History 2002 - Andrew Carnegie: Right Place at the Right Time

Luke Brorein

History 2002        

Professor Hale

21 September 2013

Andrew Carnegie: Right Place at the Right Time

Andrew Carnegie is arguably one of the most renowned business men of all time.  He started his career without a penny to his name.  Moving here from Scotland, his family, like many families immigrating to the United States, was looking to fulfill the “American Dream.”  With a demoralized father, Carnegie and his mother looked to take over the role of provider(s) and take care of the family.  Carnegie went on to be the richest man in the world, letting nothing stand in his way.  Even though many thought of him as ruthless, this cannot discredit the indisputable fact of his great success.  Andrew Carnegie was a boy and man that was in the right place at the right time in which he took advantage of every opportunity presented.  Moreover, Carnegie was viewed as a contradictory man, but still stayed true to his beliefs in the end.

To begin with, Carnegie was able to acquire business strategies even as a Bobbin Boy.  He earned his first paycheck working for a fellow Scot and took advantage of his first job.  “These interludes provided not only welcome relief but also Carnegie’s first exposure to accounting.  While working for Jay, Andrew decided to learn double-entry bookkeeping and enrolled in a night school course across the river in Pittsburgh” (Livesay 17).  In this situation, we saw the foreshadowing of Carnegie’s willingness to take advantage of his employment and his place in the world at every stage in his life.  The fact that he was not complacent with his job and yearned for knowledge demonstrates the upward mobility he sought.  Additionally, he was fourteen when he had this opportunity as a Bobbin Boy (and search for knowledge) which just goes to show how early in his life this ambition surfaced.

Next, Carnegie sought out new employment to get away from the “coal hole and oil vat” (20).  David Brooks needed a new messenger boy and his Uncle Hogan pointed him in the right direction.  Even though Carnegie was the one who approached Brooks, it was his uncle that put another rung on the ladder for Andrew to climb up.  “The swiftness with which Carnegie grasped this opportunity demonstrated his ability to recognize the potential new service or product and to seize an auspicious moment to associate himself with it” (20).  This opportunity yet again exemplifies Carnegie’s ambitious spirit.  

In addition, he furthered his business knowledge when working as a messenger boy for another employer.  “Andrew prided himself on knowing the location of every business establishment in town, as well as the face of its proprietor” (23).  He establishes himself in his career and gives himself credibility by perfecting what he does.  Knowing where everything was and what face went with what business, he taught himself business techniques through experience without having to go to school.  After being offered a new job as Tom Scott’s personal telegrapher, it was clear that Carnegie knew how not only to take advantage of opportunities, but turn those opportunities into an incessant climb to the top.