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

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children | John Wood | Social Entrepreneurship at Its Finest

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Leaving Microsoft ...

	Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children John Wood Collins, 2006 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 51 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

WARNING: If you are not willing to be challenged or motivated to act, do not read John Wood's new book Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.

In the late 1990's Microsoft Marketing Director John Wood took a three week vacation in order to go trekking in the Himalayas. At the time Wood had no idea that the 200 mile walk would be the beginning of a radical change, not only in his thinking but in his very way of life.

On his first day of trekking, Wood meets a middle-aged Nepali named Pasupathi, the man responsible for finding resources for 17 schools in the rural Lamjung Province. Invited to join him, Wood soon found himself greeting students in an overcrowded Nepali school. Not only were the students crammed on long benches, they lacked desks, an accurate world map, and most striking, a lack of books in their small library. Four hundred and fifty students were without something as simple and important as books. The headmaster of the school then issued to Wood a challenge that would forever change his life: "Perhaps, sir, you will someday come back with books."

On completion of the three week trek, Wood sent out a challenge to over 100 people asking them to help the children of Nepal by donating books. Expecting a couple hundred books to be donated, Wood was overwhelmed to find that over 3,000 books were donated as a result of this single mailing.

Back to work at Microsoft, Wood realized a lack of fulfillment in his work. Statistics of illiteracy haunted him. After a second trip to Nepal, Wood knew what he had to do and wondered if he would have the courage to do it. He planned and implemented a radical shift in his life: that of moving from being a well paid corporate executive to an unpaid CEO of a nonprofit company who set up libraries in developing countries.

As a result of John Wood's courageous decision, the nonprofit organization, Room To Read, has now established over 5,000 libraries, built more than 400 schools and has awarded long-term scholarships to over 3,000 girls enabling them to continue their education. Partnered with the local villages, Room to Read has by donations funded schools in libraries in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Sri Lanka and India.

It is said that education is the key to escaping the cycle of poverty. The mission of Room to Read is to "provide under-privileged children with an opportunity to gain the lifelong gift of education." This book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, encourages its readers to reflect on the impact education has made on their lives, dares them to imagine a life without books, and challenges them to make a difference in the life of a child.

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Social Entrepreneurship at Its Finest

John Wood proves that business and social change are not such strange bedfellows after all. Accessible and relevant to those working in education, the corporate sector, philanthropy, nonprofits, or social entrepreneurship, this book is a wake-up call to all of us to move from identifying systematic, global injustices to doing something about them. It's impossible not to give money to Room to Read after reading this book!

John Wood, you inspire me!

Reading about John Wood's motivations and personal sacrifices, I found myself re-engergized for the volunteer work I do. This book is not just for business people, but for anyone who wants to make a difference in this crazy, beautiful world we live in. Providing children with books whether on a global scale or locally is one of the best gifts (and investments) a person can make. Bravo John! And thanks for making your adventures accessible to the rest of us.

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Great Book

Highly recommend this book to anyone looking for ideas on how to make a difference in the world. John Wood does it with a profoundly simple idea that can be replicated anywhere with lots of different scenarios. Heartwarming walk along with him on his journey! Great Read.

uplifting story of a hero's journey

I have bought numerous copies of this book, and no one has been disappointed. It is a current, yet timeless true story of someone who has changed from the captitolist career driven life to one driven by need in the third world. His book and his story is an inspiration and may just get you off the couch to do something meaningful. Paula Jones

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