Review: Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

Subtitle: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children

The book is about John Wood, a top executive at Microsoft. He was director of business development in the greater China region. After a three week vacation in Nepal his life had changed in a fundamental way. He began to question his whole life, his job and his marriage.

From that moment on he wasn’t quite sure if the life he lived so far was exactly what he wanted. The trip inspired him to help the children in Nepal and to set up schools and libraries. Nepal’s illiteracy rate was 70 percent !

” I found it hard to imagine a world in which something as random as where you were born could result in lifelong illiteracy”.

He could do so much good things with so little resources in this country. He wanted to change something.

For that vision he left Microsoft a few months later and started to collect books for Nepal. I liked the way how Wood described his life as a business person before and how he had transformed to make such a big change. It’s one-third a business saga, one-third world travelogue and one-third human drama as Marc Andreessen, Co-founder of Netscape Communications stated.

First he had only the help of his friends and family but later the network grew and he started a official non-profit organization (Room to Read). He was fueled with the drive that made him a top executive at Microsoft and he could use lot’s of business practices he learned earlier in his business life. Sometimes it was hard to ask for the money he desperately needed to build the schools and libraries. He wasn’t always welcome at the may Foundations he visited, but he had a helpful statement which inspired him to go on:

“Anyone in a sales career knows that if you’re not getting rejected, you’re not casting your net widely enough”

Another interesting point is how he set up these aid projects. It was essential for him that local people were required to also donate labour and small amounts of money. Projects which are just a gift and bestowed by outsiders will not be valued enough because then the people have nothing on stake. Best example is the following : “… in the entire history of the travel industry nobody has ever washed a rental car. If they don’t feel ownership, they won’t do any long-term maintenance. ”

The book also covers the effect of September 11. He points out how important education is and describes the school system in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. He sees major problems in these systems because most of them are religious schools which taught their own anti-Western views. Maybe there is a point but I think one chapter is by far not enough to cover this complex topic.

He built one of the most effective nonprofits called Room to Read  which has now built more than 2000 schools and libraries throughout Asia and Africa! In fact he wanted to build “The Microsoft of Nonprofits”.
It is an amazing book with lots of inspiring ideas and I read it almost in one go during my vacation.

Some quotations I like:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work” (p. 149)

“Those who say it cannont be done should not criticize those who are doing it” (p. 163)

“But sometimes if you wait until you have your entire pln figured out and buttoned-up, the world will have moved on and passed you by.” (p. 229)

Title:   Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
Author:   John Wood
ISBN:   006117906x
Year:   2006

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