Microsoft's Wood Speaks to IEP Students

During a trek through Nepal in 1998, Microsoft executive John Wood was struck by an, until then, unrealized need to make a difference in education. It was on this trip that he visited a local school's library that contained no books. Locked away in a cabinet were some 20 books left behind by similar trekkers to be shared by the 450 students in the school. It was when a local educator told him, 'Perhaps, sir, you'll some day come back with books,' that Wood knew he had to get involved.

As he explained when addressing International Education Policy (IEP) students last week, Wood took the comment as a challenge and promptly left his job as a senior executive associate for Microsoft, promising to return to Nepal with books. With no formal training in education, Wood collected 3,000 books within the first month and made his promised return a year later to deliver them to the school. For Wood, this turned out to only be the beginning of what would turn into a full-fledged nonprofit called Room to Read.

"I didn't know what I was doing...don't let skeptics get you down," Wood said. Despite detractors telling Wood that his educational endeavor wouldn't work, seven years later Room to Read is responsible for constructing 442 schools and 5,160 libraries throughout developing countries. Wood now calls himself a "reformed businessperson" and a "social entrepreneur."

"Education is the best philanthropic bet we can make," Wood said.

IEP Director and Professor Fernando Reimers included Wood's book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, as one of the readings for his Education Policy and Research in Comparative Perspective course. "A growing number of IEP graduates initiate or participate in such efforts of social entrepreneurship to foster educational improvement," Reimers said. "Wood's choice to leave Microsoft to found an organization to promote literacy instruction is a very positive successful example of such efforts. The fact that he is focused on the support of literacy instruction, a topic that is crucial to promoting the improvement of educational quality worldwide is also very important."

Today Room to Read operates in Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia, focusing on resourcing communities in five areas: creating and stocking libraries, publishing children's books in local languages, constructing schools, establishing long-term girls' scholarships, and building computer and language labs.

Despite the nonprofit's many successes -- including getting the local communities invested in the program by hiring locals, even having some build schools -- Wood admitted that it hasn't always been easy. He acknowledged that he wishes he brought in education "experts" from the beginning, then he informed the students that Room to Read is currently hiring.

Although Room to Read has consistently monitored and evaluated the programs it sponsors since its inception, Wood noted that it is difficult to really know the long-term effects. "I think what were doing is really a big leap of faith," Wood said. "At the end of the day we don't know what we will have done for a long time. But I'm willing to dedicate the next 30 years to this."