Leadership lessons from one of the world’s most successful social entrepreneurs - John Wood Page 1

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John Wood is passionate, some would say obsessed about changing the world.

He is the founder of Room To Read – an organisation that’s deliberately changing the world – one

book, one library and one child at a time.

Room To Read’s mission is “World change starts with educated children.”

There are the seven lessons I have learned from John Wood since 2007 up close and personal as a

member of the Sydney Room To Read Chapter and through his speeches, interviews and books.

1. Create a legacy

2. A great story teller about possibilities

3. Play to their strengths

4. Obsess

5. Build a tribe

6. Act local, think global

7. Measure what matters

Leadership models I have spent a lot of time researching leadership role models and their common traits. I think the

model that helps best to showcase where John Wood fits is the table below from the Minessence

Group. John consistently displays the characteristics of a Visionary Global Transformation leader.

Global

Transformation

Visionary

with a global network of peers

who are influential visionaries

I have skills, and capacity to influence international

organisations and impact the world-view of people

in countries such that the very nature of civilisation

will change

Collaborative

Project

Charismatic

as project manager, strategist,

advocate

The world is a project and I want to participate

through offering my unique gifts and skills. I want

organisations to be more humane and democratic

Organisational Transactional

with followers who are loyally

devoted to the organisation

The world is a problem with which I can and must

cope through belonging and making a living. I need

to be successful to please those who control my

future

Alien

Threatened

Autocratic

as a tyrant dictator with

opposed followers who are

totally dependant

The world is an alien space and I must survive as

best as I can by obeying the rules and by being

physically protected

© Minessence Group

Where would you see yourself on this model?

Leadership lessons from one of the world’s most successful social entrepreneurs

John Wood Founder Room To Read

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Create a legacy

John’s vision is beyond his life and his

lifetime.

His legacy is a world where everyone

can read – EVERYONE.

His focus is on others, not himself.

This is what makes his legacy

compelling and unites children,

politicians, educators, business people

and parents everywhere in the world.

His legacy transcends language,

religions, national boundaries and pre-

existing assumptions.

Within 5 minutes of being in John’s presence you are left in no doubt about what he obsesses about,

what his higher purpose is, what his calling is – it’s about education and its ability to impact current

and future generations.

His legacy isn’t about one child, one village, one library or one country. It’s about the impact of

reading on education for the entire world. John believes the world is a better place for reading and

that reading can produce a more creative, more tolerant and a more humane planet.

Every part of his mind, body, heart and soul is embraced by his legacy every minute of his day – whilst

awake and whilst asleep.

It is this obsession that creates the energy in the magnetic personality that draws others to Room To

Read. This immense legacy energises him and those he touches in rural villages or city hotels and

auditoriums where he speaks and shares a vision of what’s possible.

John’s energy seems to have no limits, yet I have seen him at the end of a week or a night where he

has spoken to so many people that his voice struggles to keep up and in some cases he loses his voice

– what he doesn’t lose is his passion for the generations he serves.

What’s your legacy?

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed. If you think in terms of ten years, plant trees. If in terms

of 100 years, teach people

Confucius

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A great story teller about possibilities

John is a gifted communicator and this is one of his strengths. John never misses an opportunity to

tell a story about the importance of teachers, librarians, students, Room To Read employees or the

investors.

John paints amazing pictures with his words and regularly uses intense photographic images as a

backdrop to his speeches. The words and the pictures of Nepal, Laos or Cambodia help his audience

connect their head, their hearts and even in some cases their wallets.

His speaking style is very upbeat and about

what’s possible. Not sad stories about past or

today, he consistently is future orientated.

His stories are grounded in statistics and

metrics about what has been achieved. Equally

he is always sowing seeds in the audiences

mind about extrapolating that into their future.

John’s stories are very personal. He speaks

about individuals. He speaks about real people he has met, not villages or towns.

He uses their names, their parents’ names, their teacher’s names and explains their daily lives and uses

their words not his.

John’s language goes from persuasive, expansive possibilities spoken by a highly educated world

leader and then juxtaposed by the most simple stories and language. For example quoting a Nepali

leader on his initial visit - “Maybe, sir, one day you will come back with books”

As a leader John understands that his role is not as a story teller. His obsession is about enabling

change. When he speaks, he makes his stories personal because he wants them to make a change. He

wants the audience to make a decision that translates into action.

His communication about what to do to make the change is simple, personal and realistic for anyone

he speaks to.

Great leaders understand that the purpose of their stories is to educate so people gain their own

meaning which helps them to personalise their change.

John’s stories work because they are personal, specific and optimistic. He carefully communicates to

different learning styles. John uses pictures and stories, balancing those with numbers and statistics. In

being balanced his connects with the left and right brain in his audience.

His stories capture the head and the heart. Ultimately he creates a compelling vision of a future

everyone wants and believes is possible and they know what their role is making the change a reality.

What stories to do you tell yourself and others?

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. Hannah Arendt

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Play to their strengths

Some would say John Wood is your classic big picture visionary leader. Others would say John is a

details obsessed leader, some say John is a very human and personal leader and some comment that

John is an influential salesman.

John understands that leaders need to play to their strengths, yet be flexible enough to understand

what each specific situation, project or team requires from the leader.

John’s preference and where he gets the most joy is being with his people in the front line of the

organisation, hearing and telling stories.

John spends more than 200 days a year on the road, in the field, with his employees, with children,

teachers, librarians and educators. In the front line, John learns what’s working and what needs

improvement first hand.

He plays to his strength as a

communicator consistently whether in a

library in Laos or a Hong Kong hotel room

full of investors.

John has built a board of directors and

organisation around him that helps him

play to his strengths and mitigate his

weaknesses.

Equally, John isn’t a one dimensional

leader just playing to his strength.

If he is in a room of strong communicators or as part of a project team where the majority of people

are communicators, John understands he needs to access his leadership flexibility and use some other

strength’s in those meetings to balance the perspective of the outcome or the group.

John’s biggest strength is to understand which strength to play to according to the situation rather

than using only one strength.

As a leader, becoming conscious of your strengths is important.

More importantly when you are building a legacy, play to the strengths of the teams you build and

inspire. As a leader you need to become conscious of the strengths of others and learn how to

consistently liberate their energy and joy through playing their strengths.

Are you conscious of your own and others strengths?

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power. Lao

Tzu

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Obsess

John obsesses about his legacy because he cares deeply about his students, his teachers, his librarians,

his staff, his investors and the broader community that cares about reading and education.

Where does obsession show up with John?

He measures everything with relentless focus around improvement. You can learn more about this in

Measure what matters below.

He is obsessed about maximising the investment of

investors into the children and minimising overheads.

He is absolutely shameless about using his tribe of

follower to help him keep overheads to an absolutely

minimum. His 200 days a year of field visits to Africa,

Asia and beyond is covered via frequent flyer

programs for his transportation and his

accommodation. He uses pens from hotels rather

than buying them for Room To Read.

This sends a powerful message out to his organisation

and creates a memorable example about the impact of frugality. John doesn’t dictate or lecture his

staff about keeping overheads low. They and the investors know that John will do everything in his

power to get as much money to the field as possible through his practical example and role modelling

the behaviour he expects from others.

John is passionate about timely communications and saying thank you. If you are going to change the

world, you need to be a great communicator and he obsesses about the small thank yous as much as

the big thank yous. Whether on email or in person John is always saying thank you.

Thank you on behalf of the children he serves and Room To Read. Thank you to investors and anyone

who is part of his tribe.

He obsesses about getting stuff done – GSD as he abbreviates it. John is about a bias for action that

drives change. GSD is a constant part of his vocabulary and driving himself to focus on the actions

that make a difference rather than lengthy debates and discussion which may only bring a marginal

improvement in the final impact.

His obsessions are consistent and deliberate. They exist to create clarity in his message around world

change.

It’s the consistency of his actions not just his words that help people know what he is obsessed about.

Obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated. Russel

Warren

What are you obsessed about?

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Build a tribe

John uses the power of tribes from the very beginning of his Room To Read journey. Upon returning

from the mountains of Nepal, John emailed his closest family and friends and requested that they

send books to his parents’ home in the USA. Soon the storage area in the garage was full to

overflowing and John’s email had created a tribe.

He uses the concept of a tribe consistently across Room To Read. He has built tribes of investors,

tribes of librarians, tribes of educators, tribes of writers, tribes of students, tribes of journalist and

tribes of volunteers.

He has built tribes in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe. He has built tribes with business people and

politicians. He has met people where they are and ready to accept any volunteer commitment by

actively recruiting volunteers and using their skills and strengths in creative and thoughtful ways.

He has built a network of chapter leaders who

embody the principles and values of Room To

Read in their market. With a clear purpose and

minimal guidance these chapters consistently

amaze and surprise with clever ways to

communicate the Room To Read message.

The concept of empowering the tribe isn’t limited

to fund raising. John applies the same approach in

the villages where Room To Read libraries and

schools are being built. The organisation recruits parents, friends and the wider village to contribute

materials and their labour to the digging of foundations, laying of bricks and the placement of the

roof. John strongly believes that it is this process of engaging the local tribe in the creation of the

libraries and schools that creates sustainability and scale in the Room To Read model.

Rather than the building becoming run down after Room To Read moves on after a few years, the

tribe that helped create the structure through their own personal effort and resulting pride continues

to clean, paint and maintain the library that they built.

Tribes matter to themselves and tribes hold themselves accountable to their own outcomes.

It’s through the clarity of the Room To Read message that enables a wide and connected number of

different tribes that releases enormous energy to make the change a reality.

Room To Read isn’t being prescriptive about the approach, it just creates a compelling reason about

“Why to get involved” and then they watch, encourage, cheer and celebrate the success of their

tribes around the world.

A tribe takes accountability for their results in the absence of their leader. Great leaders create tribes

of leaders not followers.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is

the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

When you lead, what happens when you are not there?

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Think global, act local

Room To Read is intensely global and local

simultaneously. Neither can exist without the other. To

create global change, the change needs to be created

child by child, teacher by teacher and library by library

locally.

The immense scale of change and the local

consequences, it creates the classic paradox of

leadership. The paradox of decision making and the

duality of any result, balanced against competing

outcomes.

Many struggle with the paradox. Sometimes it paralyses

people into procrastination as they search for the “right”

answer or the “best” answer.

It plays out in a number of dimensions of peoples

thinking and decision making.

Short term versus long term, focus on outcomes versus

thinking about the bigger picture. The result versus the

impact on people.

Global transformational leaders understand and accept

the duality of the paradox. They don’t obsess about the trade off and making the “right” decision or

the ideal decision. They are comfortable that with the right clarity about direction and a motivated

and empowered group of people around them, a decision will emerge and if the decision isn’t perfect

they have the self and group awareness in place to understand when to change direction.

John compares the growth of Room To Read libraries with the number of Starbucks stores. Through

this process he is taking his audience along on a global

journey of comparison. Equally he is careful and

deliberate to make all his stories extremely local.

With photos of children in local villages, teachers helping

students in their home villages.

In hotel rooms during fund raising events, Room To Read

he cleverly brings the global local approach. Taking

people through a ladder of investment opportunities from

$20 to $200,000. Room To Read skilfully and consistently

balances global and local outcomes.

World change starts with educated children Room

To Read

How do you deal with the paradox of decision making?

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Measure what matters

Financial accountability is a given for a public organisation asking for money for education and for the

last 8 years Room To Read has been awarded the Charity Navigator 4-star rating. John is focussed on

exceeding the highest standards for financial accountability.

He understands that subtle and consistent use of language around the financials is critical. Donors are

investors because he wants to be clear to them that it’s about the return and co-investment not just

give me your money – a donation.

This table summarises John’s focus on measurement financial measures, operational and educational

outcomes.

Schools Constructed 1,824

Libraries Established 16,549

Books Published 1,029

Books Distributed 14,588,494

Girls' Education Participants 27,159

Children Benefited 8.8 million

Whether speaking to journalists, investors, volunteers, teachers or staff, John is always quoting the

impact of what everyone is doing, he keeps the focus on WHY, not just the what and how of what

everyone is doing day to day.

The measurement and numbers don’t exist in a vacuum. They are part of a bigger plan and cascaded

down to everyone in a personalised way to help understand how they are connected to the higher

purpose.

It connects the board of directors, investors, the staff and volunteers. Each day, in each library, in each

fund raising event, the Room To Read measures align everyone’s efforts to make the biggest impact.

Ultimately Room To Read is focussed on measurement of the impact of their books, their libraries,

their schools, their librarians and their approach to education. Room To Read student’s school results

are measured and compared for improvement year on year and decade on decade.

Daily, weekly, monthly and annually all the measures of Room To Read are focussed, reviewed and

aligned towards the mission – World change starts with educated children.

When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know

something about it Lord Kelvin

Do you measure what matters?

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Summary

To summarise John Wood’s impact through 1,824 schools, 16,549 libraries, 14.5million books and 8.8

million children doesn’t do justice to his impact on the lives he has touched and changed for the

better.

John isn’t perfect, he is the first to admit that. He struggles with many things we all struggle with every

day – with self-doubts and the voices of the naysayers in the background amongst other doubts. No

doubt John’s obsession with Room To Read has taken a toll on his life in a way others may not see.

I am not naïve, nor should you be – leadership comes at a price.

John’s success has been summarised as

1. Create a legacy

2. A great story teller about possibilities

3. Play to their strengths

4. Obsess

5. Build a tribe

6. Act local, think global

7. Measure what matters

It would be simplification to say these are the only ingredients in creating one of the world’s most

important and successful educational movements.

John’s success as a Transformational Global Leader is about his focus on others first.

His focus on serving others first is the foundation to his success.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, my hope is that you were able to reflect on your journey

through John’s.

Oscar Trimboli is a speaker, mentor and author and his obsession is to connect people with their passions for

high impact outcomes.

For the last 30 years, he has been leader in sales, marketing and operational roles in professional services,

technology and telecommunications organisation. His client’s say that he is obsessed about getting their

passions, goals and values aligned for their highest impact.

If you would like to explore the 6 step leadership programs, these programs are offered in live and virtual

formats. To find out more either call or email +61410340185 oscar@oscartrimboli.com

The biggest risk is that a lot of people will try to talk you out of pursuing your dream. The world has

too many people who are happy to discuss why something might not work, and too few who will

cheer you and say, "I'm there for you."

The more time you spend navel-gazing, the longer you give those negative gravitational forces to

keep you in their tether. John Wood

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In November 2007, my wife Jennie lent me a book “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John

Wood. Since then I have had the opportunity to work with John as part of the Sydney Room To Read

Chapter and see John Wood speak at many events and I have come to admire what, how and why he

believes “World change starts with educated children.”

I read John’s book in a week and although I was working at Microsoft at the time I realised that I

couldn’t leave Microsoft.

The book did challenge me to think about the gift of education in my life and the opportunities that

reading had opened to me.

I became involved in the initial Sydney Room To Read Chapter in 2008 and then in 2009 my wife and I

organised a trek to Nepal and with a group of 6 other passionate hikers, and we raised enough money

for a library in Nepal.

We were lucky enough to visit a Room To Read school in the hills of Annapurna on our trip and the

impact of that visit changed my view of the world.

Through an interpreter, I asked the school principal what’s been the biggest impact of reading and

books with her students. Her answer was totally unexpected, “The children bring their parents to the

library on the weekend to teach them how to read.”

The principal’s answer surprised me and as a result, I continued to make sure that Room To Read’s

mission “World change starts with educated children” and so continue to support.

I love being part of Room To Read’s mission because John has created a sustainable business model

where local villagers contribute towards their own libraries ensuring ongoing success because they are

part of their our solution.

I love that Room To Read measure and track success for their investors (not donors), the schools, the

libraries, the teachers and the students.

I love what they do because Room To Read is creating an important legacy for today and tomorrow

through the gift of reading for students, teachers and their local communities and as a result the

world

I invest 3% of my revenue to Room To Read because they don’t talk about change, they make change

happen. They have a bias for action.

Room To Read is changing the world for the better every day because world change starts with

educated children.

To learn more about Room To Read – visit http://www.roomtoread.org/

Why I invest 3% of my revenue to Room To Read