Andrew Carnegie believed "the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced".
He was once the richest man in the world worth about $300 billion in todays money, gave it all away before his death. He spent $60 billion to build libraries all over the world - Why? What can we learn?
Knowledge is power, the powerful withheld knowledge for thousands of years to retain power and to increase personal wealth.
Carnegie wanted to break this cycle in the human civilisation by creating a public library network to share the knowledge with the powerless.
Carnegie received very little formal education, he migrated to United States from Scotland at the age of 13 and immediately started working at a cotton mill earning $1.20 per week.
Carnegie was intensely curious and a voracious reader and there was no such thing as public library. Fortunately, Colonel James Anderson opened his private library to working boys each Saturday night. Carnegie was totally self educated and was forever grateful to Colonel Anderson.
When he sold Carnegie steel to J.P Morgan, he retired as the world's richest man determined to "help those who will help themselves". He fundamentally believed that anyone with access to books and the desire to learn could educate him- or herself and be successful, as he had been.
Carnegie went on to establish 3000 public libraries world wide. When segregated south denied non-whites access to Carnegie public library, a group of African American teachers decided to petition.
Carnegie was impressed with the drive to learn to better themselves, he decided to fund and create a network of coloured Carnegie libraries.
Carnegie is the father of modern philanthropy and continues to inspire fellow American billionaires to bestow all their wealth to charity during their lifetime.
I wonder what Carnegie would be doing if he were alive today? First of all, he would have been thrilled about the internet, one can learn anything under the sun as long as they are connected.
I suppose every human who wanted to help themselves will be given an iPad with unlimited access to kindle and free high speed broad band connection. I am sure Tim Cook(iPad), Jeff Bezos(Kindle) and Elon Musk(Starlink) would have been more than happy to help.
Notes to self:
Leadership has always been and always will be about learning, sharing and inspiring others to be the best version of themselves. Inspiration is the fuel that has powered human civilisation for thousands of years.
P.S.
If you are interested in this topic, recommend watching "The Men Who Built America". It is a great series to watch with your kids and learn about Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Edison, Tesla, J.P Morgan and Ford
I write about about my interests, learnings and inspiration. if you are curious, follow Guru Padmanabhan
You can read my writings at view all blogs.