Telling the Story of a Story Deck: My Take on the Leadership Story Deck

I’ve reviewed a lot of card decks that help you think differently.
But The Leadership Story Deck by David Hutchens goes a step further, it doesn’t just spark ideas, it helps you find your own stories and share them in ways that connect.

If you’ve ever struggled to explain why your work matters, or wanted to inspire your team without resorting to bullet points and charts, this deck is worth a look.

Why Stories Matter in Leadership

A few years ago, a CEO asked my team a seemingly simple question:

“How can we make customers trust us again?”

After digging in, we realised the issue wasn’t out there, it was in here.
Inside the company, we weren’t speaking the same language about customer experience.
Before we could rebuild trust with customers, we had to rebuild it with each other.

That story became a turning point for us and it reminded me how powerful storytelling can be in shifting how people think.
Sometimes conviction means challenging the question, not just answering it.

Bridge to Innovation: How the Deck Works

That idea—connecting worlds that don’t usually meet, is exactly what the Leadership Story Deck does.

The set includes:
• 27 Theme Cards, each representing a classic leadership story pattern like A Leader with Conviction, The Vision, or Bridge to Innovation.
• 3 Narrative Recipe Cards, which combine themes into larger frameworks for talks, workshops, or presentations.

Here’s how I used it.
I started with a theme that matched my project, then grabbed the suggested story cards and thought about real moments that illustrated the idea. Some cards didn’t fit, so I swapped them out until the narrative felt right.

In the end, my presentation came together around four key stories.
Each one was factual, grounded in the work, but together they bridged facts, examples, and emotion.
Not every story has to sound like a campfire tale, sometimes a good business story is simply a clear, human explanation with a bit of heart.

From Individual Reflection to Team Discovery

You can use the deck solo or with your team.

Individually, it’s great for surfacing your own leadership stories. In a group, it becomes a discovery exercise: each person picks a few cards that resonate, then shares why those stories matter. The result is a library of lived experiences that bring company values to life.

Building a Talk with Narrative Recipes

To really test the tool, I used it to build an upcoming presentation.
I followed one of Hutchens’ Narrative Recipes “Sharing Knowledge or Fostering a Learning Organisation.”
It suggested three story cards (8, 11, 22). When those didn’t fit perfectly, I used alternatives (14, 17, 18) and was amazed at how well they still formed a coherent narrative arc.

The structure helped me remember the flow without slides; each story became a natural cue.
That’s when I realised: the deck doesn’t just help you find stories; it helps you own them.

Tools Around the Deck

Hutchens also offers a Story Canvas, a downloadable or physical template to map stories visually.
You can use it in Mural, Miro, or on paper. And his book Story Dash expands the method further, showing how storytelling can drive engagement and action.

If you’re diving deep, check out storytellingleader.com. You’ll find the deck, the booster pack, the canvas, and more context around Hutchens’ work.

Final Thoughts

The Leadership Story Deck is one of those rare facilitation tools that’s both practical and poetic.
It helps leaders, facilitators, and teams turn fragmented experiences into meaningful narratives that inspire trust, clarity, and action.

If you geek out on tools that help you think, communicate, and lead more intentionally—this one deserves a place on your table.

And if you want to see it in action, watch the full video review on my Creative Coffee Break YouTube channel. You’ll see how I used three cards, A Leader with Conviction, Bridge to Innovation, and I Helped Someone Just Like You, to tell the story of this very video.