What´s the Big Idea?

by Curtis Sittenfeld

"You're not epileptic, are you?"
That's the question I get as I enter the Chicago headquarters of the Creative Solutions Network. I answer no -- and immediately find myself in a reclining chair, with my back parallel to the floor and my legs in the air. Suddenly I'm wearing something called the Orion Brain Machine. It features headphones that emit an erratic pulse and glasses that display a kaleidoscopic light show. Oh, by the way, the chair -- called the Symmetron -- is moving.
Have I entered some postmodern torture chamber? Hardly. I'm just spending some time at the Thinkubator.
The Thinkubator is the brainchild of Gerald Haman, 39, who founded the Creative Solutions Network in 1988. An alumnus of Procter & Gamble and Arthur Andersen, Haman works with such clients as AT&T, BP Amoco, American Express, and Kraft Foods -- all of which have sent executives to the Thinkubator. What brings people from such respectable companies to such a strange place? The desperate search for creativity -- since, when it comes to enhancing creativity, few people have as many creative ideas as Haman.

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