The Story of Innovation Retreats
In ancient times, whether in the West or Asia, creative people from all walks of life discovered a very useful method: taking some time to retreat to a small cabin in nature, sitting quietly to rejuvenate from a busy life, and seeking new inspiration and sources of innovation.
The concept of Innovation Retreat brings this life tool back to the modern world, helping our careers and personal lives achieve unexpected and highly efficient breakthroughs.
The following is an excerpt from an interview with Geshe Michael Roach.
My teacher was very strict and would conduct an innovation retreat every six months or so, organizing his thoughts to gain new ideas for his projects.
He always encouraged me to try a creativity retreat. I kept postponing it because I didn’t believe it would help me until I tried it once. After that, I was immediately hooked on the retreat.
During my first retreat experience, I had this complete silence, complete focus experience. In this state, after about two to three days, I became highly creative.
I believe there is a dividing line of 24 to 48 hours; before this, you feel bored, or time seems too slow. And then suddenly—I call it the "popcorn moment"—new ideas start popping into your mind.
I must say, some of the greatest academic, artistic, or literary ideas I’ve ever had, along with several business systems I invented specifically for my business, all came to me during the Innovation Retreats.
These business systems made our company the largest in its industry globally, achieving annual sales of $250 million, and in 2009, we sold it to the legendary investor Warren Buffett.
In another case, through multiple Innovation Retreats, I created a breakthrough database architecture for preserving and analyzing over 15,000 ancient Asian manuscript texts. This became the world’s largest free online classical literature database.
The Innovation Retreat has been the foundation of my personal success, my personal life success, as well as my business and artistic life success as a writer. Everything I have achieved stems from these retreats. Therefore, I am eager to show others the amazing things that can happen during an Innovation Retreat.
For me, the idea of this project was like a giant hole opening in an iceberg after a glacier cracked, or like the sky splitting open. I saw tremendous opportunities. To me, it wasn’t just a small gap; it was what we call a "chasm."
The concept of the Innovation Retreat is like a mountain being split open to reveal a vast gold mine. I have a strong intuition that this is something that can truly benefit everyone in the world.
I genuinely enjoy my life, and to me, everything is fun. The most fun thing is helping others. When I can help someone have a better life or realize their potential, it’s a great feeling.
I believe the Innovation Retreat is like an untapped field, one that modern people have never truly explored, and it can greatly change their lives. So I’m really excited and eager to try this project.