Think Week, If You're Not Bill Gates

Twice annually, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates retreats into the cosmos of ideas and spends seven days alone at a waterfront cottage in a secret location that he reaches by helicopter. There, he ponders the future of technology and the Internet.

It was during these sessions that Gates—fueled by Diet Orange Crush, according to a Wall Street Journal reporter who was once invited to join him—hatched plans to introduce a tablet PC, launch an online video-game business, and create more secure software. While his company has more to keep up with than most, and, of course, Gates can afford the extra time off, his idea of a retreat purely for the purpose of a good think is, well, good thinking.

Directorship urges directors and officers to take an annual think week, and if practical, to do so as a full board, complete with afternoon walks, provocative reading, speakers on global issues, and a facilitator like Jeffrey Sonnenfeld or Ram Charan to ensure thoughtful give and take (Directorship’s Events Group can help you put this together, if you are so inclined). While Gates mostly reads papers contributed by Microsoft engineers, we recommend beginning with a cornucopia of books, almost one a day for your own version of think week:

Day 1. Greenspan’s Apologia

The Age of Turbulence, by Alan Greenspan (The Penguin Press)

With little to none of that curious “ambispeak” for which he was so famous, the sage of economics opines on subjects near and far from his usual roost. He takes on the Internet bubble, Black Monday, Asian manifest destiny, political fiascoes, and always, a reservoir of awe for American resilience. A must, must read, Greenspan is perfect for starting the week by getting a solid grounding in economic surveillance.

Day 2. What a Negligible Difference a Hundred Years Makes

The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm, by Robert F. Bruner (John Wiley & Sons)

Next, go back in time. It was one of the worst crises of modern history, including system shocks, bank runs, liquidity vacuums, and the intervention of uber-banker J.P. “Jack” Morgan, Jr. The result was that six years later the Federal Reserve was formed. You may not feel better about 2007 after reading this, but you will feel like you have company.

Days 3, 4 and 5. (It’s 893 pages!) All The Raj

India after Ghandi, by Ramachandra Guha (HarperCollins)

One thing you can’t outsource is first-hand knowledge of the greatest economic driver in the world today. India teaches us that beginnings may not look as bright as they may one day be, and that patience with under-developed countries may well work better than force-feeding democratic principles.

Day 6. The Innovator

Prophet of Innovation Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction, by Thomas K. McCraw (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)

Although the line he is most famous for sounds like it was coined on Madison Avenue, this seer and thinker was worlds and eons ahead of his time: “All businesses eventually fail,” (and we thought it was only restaurants). But this combustion fuels an engine that drives our capitalist economy, and the flotsam and jetsam is fodder for tomorrow’s innovation.

Day 7. Smart Guys Finish in the Future
The Mystery of 2012 – Predictions, Prophecies, and Possibilities, by Greg Braden, Peter Russell and Daniel Pinchbeck (Sounds True Inc.)

From the Mayan calendar to socially responsible business to Galactic Alignment, this collection of futurist essays opens a narrow window in the great beyond. We like it for its parallel thinking and the fact that when you finish, you will not think about the present in the same way again.