Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children

asked by wellness on November 13, 2006 1:49 PM

John Wood discovered his passion, his greatest success, and his life's work--not at business school or leading Microsoft's charge into Asia in the 1990s--but on a soul-searching trip to the Himalayas. Wood felt trapped between an all-consuming career and a desire to do something lasting and significant. Stressed from the demands of his job, he took a vacation trekking in Nepal because a friend had told him, "If you get high enough in the mountains, you can't hear Steve Ballmer yelling at you anymore."

See how John Wood came to start Room to Read and write Leaving Microsoft to Change the World in this video clip: high bandwidth or low bandwidth

Instead of being the antidote to the rat race, that trip convinced John Wood to divert the boundless energy he was devoting to Microsoft into a cause that desperately needed to be addressed. While visiting a remote Nepalese school, Wood learned that the students had few books in their library. When he offered to run a book drive to provide the school with books, his idea was met with polite skepticism. After all, no matter how well-intentioned, why would a successful software executive take valuable time out of his life and gather books for an impoverished school?

But John Wood did return to that school and with thousands of books bundled on the back of a yak. And at that moment, Wood made the decision to walk away from Microsoft and create Room to Read-an organization that has donated more than 1.2 million books, established more than 2,600 libraries and 200 schools, and sent 1,700 girls to school on scholarship-ultimately touching the lives of 875,000 children with the lifelong gift of education.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World chronicles John Wood's struggle to find a meaningful outlet for his managerial talents and entrepreneurial zeal. For every high-achiever who has ever wondered what life might be like giving back, Wood offers a vivid, emotional, and absorbing tale of how to take the lessons learned at a hard-charging company like Microsoft and apply them to one of the world's most pressing problems: the lack of basic literacy.

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Reviews

Mr. Wood's tale is a fascinating read. Mr. Wood takes us on a journey that leads us to Nepal, Cambodia, Austrailia, China and Vietnam. He was an account executive for Microsoft who happened onto a rundown school while trekking in Nepal. It changed his life and he began changing the lives of the students he helped (collecting books and eventually building Libraries and schools). He started his "room to read" program on a shoestring budget and a lot of determination. The story is interesting but he gets repetitive at times. There is a certain lack of personal insight (I find this to be true in many of these type of accounts)on the author's part. But all in all an ENJOYABLE/ INTERESTING READ!!

reviewed by john316 on November 21, 2006 10:30 AM

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I was initially reluctant to purchase the book when a friend of mine who attended business school recommended it. This was because the friend relayed to me the fact that the author's personal idol was Steve Ballmer (of Microsoft). Steve Ballmer? Isn't Ballmer known for his insensitive, brute-force methods? Nevertheless, I ended up picking up the book after reading a chapter at the bookstore. The life the author had ahead of him at that moment sounded too appealing for me to drop the book...In other words the "leaving his ordinary life" part was too much exciting for me to give the book up just then. (Disclosure: I personally work in the high-tech industry -- though never held as high profile as the author had -- and have considered in the past quitting my job to take up charity work. Only in my wildest dreams.)

And now I am glad that I picked up the book. The author's passion for charity and education won my heart many times over. Moreover he proved by example that as long as you put your heart in it there are ways to help others in a not-insignificant way, and that successful careers need not be confined to working for corporates in the traditional sense.

Getting back to the Steve Ballmer aspect. I suspect that the author read mainly business books. For instance the book packs, just like business books do, many "side boxes," where desirable business practices/lessons, or other factoids the author wishes to emphasize are enclosed. At times I felt the author's constant business orientated approach also irritating. However the irritations are minor, and I am more than willing to put up with them as they are put to use for a good cause as the author's.

In case you wish to check out the author's business before purchasing the book, try accessing RoomToRead dot org.

reviewed by selena on November 26, 2006 5:30 AM

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add a new book!