For decades Bill Gates has practiced a ritual he calls 'Think Week' — retreating alone, often to a secluded cabin, twice a year to do nothing but read stacks of papers, books, and proposals and think deeply about technology and the future. At Microsoft, the ideas he hatched on Think Weeks shaped company strategy, including its pivotal embrace of the internet. The habit, widely emulated by other executives, reflects Gates's lifelong identity as a voracious, self-directed learner.