Think "Think Week" Weak?
This morning's Wall Street Journal features an article about MS boss Bill Gates and his twice-yearly "Think Week" retreats to a secret cottage in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. There, he stays up till two or three in the morning reading MS white papers and drinking cans of diet Orange Crush. No one, not even his family, is allowed to interrupt him; a caretaker stops by twice a day to drop off humble meals. Otherwise he is completely isolated.
I'm in no position to judge the merits of this leadership approach. (It's been a long time since I've directed a major, multi-billion-dollar software behemoth.) I see good and bad things about it, but what I really look forward to are the consequences of this publicity: In addition to increasing Gates' Nerd Mystique, the article will inspire executives everywhere to ask themselves -- and their subordinates -- "Why don't I have my own Think Weeks?"
Indeed, even as I type this blog, underlings all over the world are groaning over hastily-written e-mails demanding that they prepare and organize Think Weeks for their masters. Somewhere in the bowels of an exposed-brick loft in the trendy neighborhood of a blue state city, a sharp-witted and well-caffeinated consultant is at this very moment creating a Think Week proposal, a complete "turn-key" package with lodging, transportation, meals and more for his executive clientele.
In the weeks and months to come, the business media will swell with articles about other executive Think Weeks, about popular "secret" destinations, about practical ways you too can have your own Think Week. Experts will argue about the relative merits of isolation versus connection, and the geekier columnists will suggest which technology you should bring, which you should leave behind.
You can see the storm coming. And it all begins today with one article, about one man, in the Wall Street Journal.
I'm in no position to judge the merits of this leadership approach. (It's been a long time since I've directed a major, multi-billion-dollar software behemoth.) I see good and bad things about it, but what I really look forward to are the consequences of this publicity: In addition to increasing Gates' Nerd Mystique, the article will inspire executives everywhere to ask themselves -- and their subordinates -- "Why don't I have my own Think Weeks?"
Indeed, even as I type this blog, underlings all over the world are groaning over hastily-written e-mails demanding that they prepare and organize Think Weeks for their masters. Somewhere in the bowels of an exposed-brick loft in the trendy neighborhood of a blue state city, a sharp-witted and well-caffeinated consultant is at this very moment creating a Think Week proposal, a complete "turn-key" package with lodging, transportation, meals and more for his executive clientele.
In the weeks and months to come, the business media will swell with articles about other executive Think Weeks, about popular "secret" destinations, about practical ways you too can have your own Think Week. Experts will argue about the relative merits of isolation versus connection, and the geekier columnists will suggest which technology you should bring, which you should leave behind.
You can see the storm coming. And it all begins today with one article, about one man, in the Wall Street Journal.
1 Comments:
I like the kind of retreat where everyone gets together and holds hands and sings "Kumbaya."
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