Earlier this summer, associate editor and Company of Friends coordinator Heath Row went on a search for the ''Euroconomy'' -- a tour of 15 cities in 12 European countries. Here is one of the dispatches that he filed. To learn more about the tour, visit the Roadshow Diaries. -- The Editors

Stockholm -- How do you develop the discipline to be creative in your work? People in Europe, like people on the other side of the Atlantic, are obsessed by that question. One answer comes from Per Grankvist, 25, creativity evangelist at Icon MediaLab, a Stockholm-based Internet consultancy that conducts what it calls a ''12-hour creativity project.''

Countdown to Creativity ''Every three months or so, we take about 30 of our people off-site at 8 AM on a Saturday. We split them into six teams of 5 people each, and they spend an hour trying to solve a communications or marketing problem. Then each team takes 5 minutes to report back to the other teams. Next, we sort the group into different teams and follow the same process again. We do this for 12 hours -- until 8PM. By the end of the day, everyone is having big thoughts.''

Setting the Stage ''During the project, we decorated each room in a different theme. We filled one room with $1,000 worth of toy animals, another with green plants, and a third with cushions. Every room had plenty of Play-Doh, markers, crayons, and watercolors. We encourage people to think like kids and to act like adults.''

Coordinates Per Grankvist