Farmhouse believes that an innovation isn't an innovation until it has a story worth telling.

Article - Whatʼs the story? Every New Business Needs A Good One

Paul Earle shares the Farmhouse philosophy at 1871:

5 Ways Farmhouse Is Keeping Leo Burnett Fresh and Inventive

Join Farmhouse for an interactive session during Chicago Ideas Week in October

I stumbled upon a documentary on Sunday about a famous old aviator. He spoke at some length about an acronym commonly used in aviation that fueled not only his love of flying, but his optimism, and zest for aspiring to do great things generally in life: CAVU.

CEILING AND VISIBILITY: UNLIMITED.

I just absolutely love that.  And hereby nominate "CAVU" as an unofficial motto of Farmhouse as we head into the wild blue yonder. We will come up with others for sure, but let's start with this one.

Ceiling and visibility: unlimited.

- Paul

Farmhouse featured in Chicago Tribune

Leo Burnett Launches Farmhouse; A Center for Innovation & New Ventures

CHICAGO – June 13, 2012 – Today, advertising agency Leo Burnett USA announced the launch of Farmhouse, its innovation and new venture center.

Farmhouse’s mission is to conceive and develop new-to-the-world products, services, and experiences, providing an upstream complement to Leo Burnett’s core marketing communications business.

“Leo Burnett is famous for creative work that deeply accesses the human condition,”

This past weekend my wife, my two little guys and I ambled up to the Old Town Art Fair, one of my favorite events of the year here in the Windy City. With the linkage between artistic innovation and business innovation on the top of my mind having come out of the KIN conference the week before, I so enjoyed being able to look at some creations that were truly different, not just in outcome but in process, and to actually be able to talk to the artists about them.

I really enjoyed the work of this

Wrapped up an incredible and inspiring couple of days at Northwestern University's Kellogg Innovation Network ("KIN") annual conference, also known as KIN Global. Leo Burnett and Farmhouse were sponsors and we feel great about that. I anticipate an extremely energized and robust long-term relationship between our group and the KIN, and it's darned exciting. We're working on a really neat project now to use social media to help delegates of the network stay connected in between meetings, and over time I could see Burnett and Farmhouse bringing

I'm usually pretty comfortable speaking in public in a rather unscripted and off-the-cuff manner, but when the occasion is REALLY important, I'll sketch out a few notes in advance, and maybe even rehearse a few times. The toast to my wife at our wedding reception, some remarks at other people's weddings, dad's retirement dinner, stuff like that.

I am so proud and honored to be part of the Burnett family, and so excited about the future potential of Farmhouse, that I categorized a toast to a gathering of all my new colleagues at our internal launch party as REALLY important. I think that

I greatly enjoyed the article about Eddie Van Halen in the April edition of Esquire. In addition to his unique playing style and bona fide rock star creds, Eddie was (and remains) a prolific innovator in guitar tech. I didn't know that. In addition to being able to really shred it, the guy holds a few patents. His innovation spark was always wanting to do something new musically, but not having the tools to make the sound he wanted to hear... so he'd simply design them himself. That’s absolutely awesome.

Eddie even innovated around little

Kierkegaard famously wrote that “all your reason, all your logic, can only get you so far.” This sentiment was the premise for the concept later to be known as the “leap of faith.”

I think the leap of faith plays a huge role in innovation. I could even make an argument that the latter is not possible without the former. I think it would be cool to interview a handful of great innovators and entrepreneurs to explore the circumstances and thought processes during that moment—they all faced them—when the objective data would have caused a purely rational person to quit, yet they forged on,

I was on a plane the other day and got to pondering a bottled water product I grabbed on the way to the gate (yes, these are the things that occupy my attention while flying over the heartland).

The front label proudly boasted that the water is “natural.” It had better be! I’m not even sure what the source of unnatural water would be… spent fuel rods? And have we really gotten to the point where water being “natural” is a legitimate selling point?

Then I took a gander at the back label, which hyped the brand’s program to commit a portion of proceeds (a whopping 1%) towards a charitable

What would happen if you crossed Louis Pasteur with Mark Twain? Eli Whitney, and Shakespeare? How about Alexander Graham Bell, and Lewis Carroll?

Let’s find out.