David Hutchens

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT DAVID HUTCHENS

In 1998, I wrote a crazy story for The Coca-Cola Company that changed my career. The story was called “Outlearning the Wolves,” and it was a wacky fable intended to align the Coke system around the transformation journey of becoming a “learning organization.” (Remember Peter Senge and the “Fifth Discipline”?)Honestly, the story was so nutso I thought it might get me fired from Coca-Cola. It didn\'t. Instead, it went all over the world. Today it’s in more than a dozen languages, still sparking conversations about organizational learning. That was the moment that made me say “why did this work?” That was 25 years ago, and today I’m still exploring the role of story in leadership influence, sense making, identity, behavior change, and transformation.The story journey has brought me all over the world, and into some of the world’s most influential organizations. From Silicon Valley to Europe to Asia and Africa and beyond, I have yet to encounter a system that does not need stories.Why stories? It’s urgent. Stories connect to the work your team is doing now — from leading change, to bringing something new forward, to selling, to creating identity.🫀 It’s human. In a world where AI bots are taking over more of the work, there is a renewed focus on “humanizing” the voice of leadership. Narrative work is finding new urgency in the agentic age.🥳 It’s fun! What if work was fun more often? When we invite more of our humanity into our leadership, it unleashes a positive energy that invites powerful movement.I’ve worked with the C-suite (including the CEO level) all the way to the front lines to build the story skill. From NASA to Nike; Accenture to Microsoft; L\'Oreal to FedEx. Today, I’m offering licensing so that YOUR team can bring The Storytelling Leader in house and scale all across your system. Your team. Your voice. Your stories. Ask me about this!What stories do you need to be telling?