If you're an executive in a business where there's a lot of invention
going on in universities, in small companies-and you
have wild thinkers inside your own company-you want to have
an hour to read a 15-page thing they wrote and then step back
and think about it, give some feedback," Gates explained. "It's
not easy when you have a fast and booming company-you're
hiring, you're going out and meeting with customers, you've got
quarterly earnings to deal with. As knowledge builds out and
new things emerge from smart people in your own company, as
well as from outsiders, you wantto be up to date." You couldn't
do that at company headquarters. "During the six days ofThink
Week, I did nothing other than reading and sleeping and eating.