'Head fake' by John Wood !

I just finished reading the book 'Leaving Microsoft to change the world' by John Wood. John was the Director of Marketing at Microsoft handling the Asia-pac region & used to report to Steve Ballmer. The book his about his life story of leaving Microsoft to create 'Room to read' , a 'not for profit' institution which builds libraries, schools & computer/language labs in countries like Nepal,India,Cambodia,Sri lanka etc. A classic book for anyone who nurtures an ambition of creating some change in the world.

John , a Kellogg grad, had the typical high flying life at MS and travelling across the world marketing it's software products. It all seemed to start when he took a conscious break to hike in the Himalayas to get out of his routine. A chance visit to a school library while in Nepal changes his life forever. He saw that a school with almost 400 kids didn't have proper books to read , leave alone a decent library. As he was leaving , the headmaster of the school left him with the words 'Perhaps sir, someday you will return with books' . What follows is an amazing story about how he built 'Room to read' from scratch and how it today stands tall with thousands of schools & libraries across the world to it's credit.

If you have read Randy pausch's 'The last lecture' (Another must read in a lifetime, be prepared to break down into tears towards the end ) or listened to his lecture, you would know what an 'Head fake' is . John has perfected the art intentionally or by pure coincidence through his book. Though it's his own life story, it takes you through by teaching business management, leadership skills, start-up gyaan & tons of fund raising techniques for non profits.

Two instances from the book that I liked the most : The first one is about Ballmer. John used to report to Ballmer and he casually mentions about running for the Boston marathon to him during an early morning jog together in Sydney. Several weeks later , during a conference Ballmer stops by him to congratulate him on his timing in the run .Better , Ballmer remembers the exact time that he clocked. A gem of wisdom for leaders there I felt . If you forget the people who work for you , sooner or later you would be going nowhere . And if you honestly care about them & let them know that you do in instances like these , you have already built the first few blocks of a successful team.

Another beautiful example amongst the several fund raising methods he mentions (that he came across throughout the world) is about some school kids in UK who raised money for his organisation during the 2004 tsunami. The kids were supposedly too small to do anything on their own and so devised a real cute plan with the help of their teachers. They went home and told their parents that they wanted to help out tsunami victims and for fundraising they would be giving their parents a deal. Parents can buy 1 hour of their silence @ home for 10 pounds ! No prizes for guessing how much money the kids roped in :)