“SUCCESS IS WHAT YOU DO FOR OTHERS”

Carlos Rodríguez-Pastor TU’88 is a strong believer in the power of education to change society and has been instrumental in reshaping Peru’s education system. He is co-founder and chairman of Innova Schools, PeruChamps, and a member of The Global Advisory Board of Khan Academy. At Dartmouth, Carlos and his wife, Gabriela Perez Rocchietti, have supported 60 Latin American Tuck and undergraduate students through their scholarship programs. Carlos currently serves as a member of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees and Tuck’s Board of Advisors.

My life is a testament to the power of education—and I believe education changes lives. It gives people the tools they need to make a better society; so the more people who are educated, the better it is for everyone.

I also believe that adversity isn’t a roadblock—rather, it’s an open door. And I look for people who don’t shrink from challenges, but race toward them. I have a “gentlemen’s agreement” with the students who are the beneficiaries of my scholarship. It involves two promises: The first is that I tell them, “You must graduate. It doesn’t matter if you receive honors, but you must graduate.” And they do. I am very proud of the fact that these scholars have a 100 percent graduation rate.

Second, I tell my scholars that they now have a monkey on their back—and the only way to get that monkey off is to someday be generous to others, to pay forward what they have received.

The world’s default setting for success is what you can do for yourself. But deep down, most of us know that success is really what you do for others. To me, changing the world through better education is true success.