Book Review of “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John Wood
May 20th, 2011 by Diane Conklin under Diane's Book Reviews. No Comments.
“Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John Wood, the founder of Room To Read is an amazing story, journey and is very inspirational to any of us who want to make a real difference in the world in a philanthropic way.
The subtitle, “An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children” is truly what this book is about. One mans journey to make a read difference, and John Wood has certainly done that.
I will tell you that several times while reading this fascinating book, I had tears in my eyes and a time or two they were flowing down my cheeks as I read John Wood’s story.
To me, this is what it’s all about…all the long hours, times of struggle, the hard work, the successes…all the work and passion that goes into our lives can all culminate into something as moving as providing books for children in countries where they literally have none.
To make a profound difference in literally hundreds of thousands of lives from one idea that grew and grew is amazing. As John’s story moves along you see how much he sacrificed in order to live this mission, and yet, you are continually struck by the idea that he didn’t sacrifice at all, but got more out of his life because of what he gave.
One of the most amazing parts of the book, to me, was that John really emphasized the specific need for girls in the countries Room To Read is involved with to learn to read and get schooling and that he concentrated on that focus as he realized this was the only way to affect real, long term change.
There are so many life and business lessons in this book, there are too many to list here, but to me, the biggest one was this:
Aim higher…
Work harder…
AND, Never take no for an answer!
Maybe I should have started this review with this information but I was so moved by the book that it ends up here. John Wood’s definition of social entrepreneurship is:
“the melding of the best practices of the business world with the social focus of the charitable sector. Social entrepreneurs embrace ideas like reporting on their results, measuring the return on their investments, keeping their overhead expenses low, and constantly improving their programs.”
Any program that has given over a million books to those who without them would have none, to me, deserves all of our support.
An amazing journey, by one amazing man, providing real, and needed help to a lot of girls and boys who without John Wood might have ended up in very different places in their lives. Oh, and with the help of a lot of really big hearted volunteers, donors, friends and family too.
For me, this book has re-energized me to make a real difference in the lives of not only those in my community, but those around the world as well.
How about you?
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children
