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Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children (Paperback)
by John Wood
| Category:
Soul-searching, Rat race, Adventure, Entrepreneurship |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
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Author: John Wood
Publisher: Collins
Pub. in: September, 2007
ISBN: 0061121088
Pages: 304
Measurements: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01141
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0061121081
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- MSL Picks -
I managed to finish this book on a flu episode with a fever that lasted two days. It was a great companion at that horrible time.
Now, i read a lot of books. And over time, i got to quickly notice good books from bad books. And ever more, i get to know great books from "books you buy to balance your shelf" books. I try to buy only good books and strive to get all the great ones. This is one of the great ones.
When first browsing through Amazon(yes, i am a very loyal customer), i noticed the title. And being the geek that i am, i wondered what it would talk about(you have to admit, MS and changing the world do not mix easily). I was afraid it would turn out to be a lame book as many books which carry a similar title are. So i took a gamble and i bought it.
It talks about the story of a man(John Wood, marketing executive working at Microsoft) who took a "no-computers" vacation to Nepal. And this vacation changed his life. He describes his life in detail. The details are typical of a modern young successful man working in a high-tech firm. Basically his life consisted of work, work, work and an almost non-existent social life(or any other kind of life for that matter). He thought he was happy this way, we all do, until we stop and take a good look at what we have accomplished.
In Nepal, he noticed that even though some provinces had schools, there were no books and no libraries. So he started out with a little project of collecting a few books for one particular school in Nepal. This all started with a promise to return to Nepal with books. And the whole idea avalanched into one of the most successful projects. An organization that builds schools/libraries and provides books and scholarships for young girls.
I don't want to give out too many details. The beauty of this story is in the events that took place and their chronological order. So i don't want to spoil it. However, i will talk about why i liked this book so much.
John saw the kids in Nepal. He saw that they were trying to learn, but with very poor resources. He also understood that education is the most important gift that you can bestow on a child. Especially girls, since these girls will grow up with this education in mind and carry this belief over to their children and families. "You educate a girl, you educate an entire generation."
After John returned from Nepal, he tried to get back to his old lifestyle. But he could not. How could he? Everything he will do now will seem so empty. How can he go on working knowing that there are children in the world that are not getting the opportunities that we take for granted. He felt so empty. And even if, according to our standard, he is very successful....his life felt meaningless in light of this issue. Everything he accomplished looked so insignificant.
What is truly remarkable though, is that he ran his organization in the same way he would run a normal business. So unlike the other charities around, he never asked people for money out of pity. So instead of showing children with sad faces and sick people like all charities do, he showed the schools he built and the books that he got and the children making use of all of this. It is his belief that contributers do not give money to charity because they don't know where their money is going. They never see results.
I also believe that any book you read must alter your life in some sense. This book did just that. I learned that you shouldn't listen to all the nay-sayers. I learned that for every 1 idea you come up with, there will be a 100 people telling you how it won't work. I also learned to never give up.
If i would only take away one thing from this book, it would be my current favorite quote(which according to the book is an old Chinese quote)
Those who say it cannot be done should not criticize those who are doing it.
This books is highly recommended with 5/5 stars.
(From quoting Alaa Salman, USA)
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After earning an MBA at the prestigious Kellogg School of Management, John Wood worked for several years in banking before joining Microsoft in 1991. Through hard work and determination, he ascended rapidly, earning coveted overseas assignments in Australia and China. While serving as Microsoft's Director of Business Development for the Greater China region, Wood decided to change his life's focus to help children break the cycle of poverty through the lifelong gift of education. In 2000, he founded Room to Read, a nonprofit organization that promotes literacy in Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and soon in Africa. When not traveling the world fund-raising and visiting Room to Read communities, he lives in San Francisco.
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From Publisher
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."
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.
John Wood discovered his passion, his greatest success, and his life's work not at business school or helping lead Microsoft's charge into Asia in the 1990s but on a soul-searching trip to the Himalayas. He made the difficult decision to walk away from his lucrative career to create Room to Read, a nonprofit organization that promotes education across the developing world. By the end of 2007, the organization will have established over 5,000 libraries and 400 schools, and awarded long-term scholarships to more than 3,000 girls, giving more than one million children the lifelong gift of education.
If you have ever pondered abandoning your desk job for an adventure and an opportunity to give back, Wood's story will inspire you. He 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 the world's most pressing social problems.
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Publishers Weekly, USA
<2008-01-21 00:00>
Starred Review. It's a rare business book that not only provides savvy insights for better business practices but transcends the category altogether, to rank as an infectiously inspiring read. Wood takes the reader on an engaging journey from his life as a rather ordinary marketing director at Microsoft through the transformative decision to launch the nonprofit organization Room to Read (www.roomtoread.org), which has created more than 2,000 schools and libraries for children across Asia. From his first trip to Nepal, where he was struck by the country's 70% illiteracy rate, through his courageous decision to leave Microsoft, to the logistics of growing and expanding the Room to Read initiative, Wood endears himself to the reader with his introspection and honesty. Crediting his former employer with giving him the business skills and drive to aim high, he outlines the concrete steps he took to make his vision a reality. Marked by sincerity and savvy, this is the kind of book that business colleagues will discuss with their acquaintances, spouses and friends.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. -This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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School Library Journal, USA
<2008-01-21 00:00>
Adult/High School - As much about business practices as about personal discovery, this book lives up to its name as it details how the author traded in the executive lifestyle to champion his own nonprofit organization, Room to Read. Wood describes his life at Microsoft as a marketing director for Australia and, later, China. Young business enthusiasts familiar with Steve Ballmer and Bill and Melinda Gates will be entertained by the glimpse into their respective management styles and by the author's efforts to pattern himself in their likeness. He also describes his lack of personal fulfillment and his eventual redirection, brought on by a visit to the mountains of Nepal. With vignettes from profitable fundraising activities for Room to Read, he documents how to successfully start up a nonprofit organization and how to sustain it. Originally named Books for Nepal, Wood's organization focused initially on providing books to the disadvantaged schools of Nepal, but eventually he expanded its scope (and renamed it) so as to include the building of schools, Tsunami relief, and educational programs for the children of Asia. Corporate-minded adolescents interested in giving back to society will enjoy this title and glean practical advice from it. - Brigeen Radoicich, Fresno County Office of Education, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. -This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Booklist (MSL quote), USA
<2008-01-21 00:00>
If work is the rent you pay for the space you occupy on Earth, then Wood's journey into the world of nonprofits is testimony to that old adage. His is a story told simply, with many touch points that will resonate with baby boomers. This corporate warrior (Microsoft marketing director, to be exact) experienced an epiphany during a 1998 Himalayan vacation, by way of a request from a Nepalese schoolteacher that "Perhaps, sir, you will some day come back with books." In less than a year, Wood quit his comfortable job and established Books for Nepal (eventually renamed Room to Read), which collected books for Asian children, then built schools and libraries. He documents the building of more than 210 schools and 2,500 school libraries and the donation of nearly 1.5 million books. Didactic at times, but always inspirational, this book is guaranteed to prompt many readers to open their hearts, if not their wallets. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Kathleen Steinley (MSL quote), USA
<2008-01-21 00:00>
This book frees us from the constraints that we perceive when we look at the endless work the world provides to the heart of anyone who values his fellow man. Instead of following the well-paved path that holds that personal satisfaction is attained through greater and greater accumulation of wealth and social stature, Mr. Wood forges his own path in the hopes of making a difference in the lives of children who for lack of basic educational opportunities suffer lives of illiteracy and limited options. He looks at the question to which we all answer that the problem is too big for me to help, and chooses to help anyway. The results are astonishing. Further, he shows how, without stepping off our path, we too can help. Empowering and uplifting. It made me happy every time I sat down to read. |
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