Leaving Microsoft to Change the World'

In 1998, John Wood was a rising executive at Microsoft when he took a vacation that changed his life – now he’s written a book about the experience and his highly successful Not for Profit organisation Room To Read.

What started as a trekking holiday in Nepal became a spiritual journey, and then a mission: to change the world, one book and one child at a time, by setting up libraries in the developing world.

Wood was soon driven to leave his career with only a loose vision of the change he wanted to bring to the world.

Over the next five years John would make the unlikely marriage between Microsoft business practices and the world of Not for Profits to create Room to Read, an organisation that has created a network of over 3,000 schools and libraries throughout rural and poor communities in Asia and Africa.

The organisation is now one of the fastest growing, award-winning Not for Profits of the last decade. Wood has been recognised in the worldwide media as a “21st century Andrew Carnegie,” building a public library infrastructure to help the developing world break the cycle of poverty through the lifelong gift of education.

Wood has now written his memoir called “Leaving Microsoft To Change The World”.

Publishers Weekly describes the publication as 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.

Marc Andreessen, Co-Founder of Netscape Communications says Wood’s story is a spellbinding tale of his transformation from Microsoft ‘velociraptor’ to a new life bringing the amazing gift of literacy to millions of kids around the world.

You can visit the book website at www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com.