What are Pip Decks?
Pip Decks are “business recipe cards” invented by Charles Burdett. Like a traditional recipe card, they show you what the recipe is for (and why you should use it) on the front. And on the back - the exact steps to make it.
The beauty of the Pip Decks format is that it can be applied to any practical activity. For example, if it’s running workshops with Workshop Tactics or crafting presentations with Storyteller Tactics.
You might be familiar with the term Pip in relation to Tarot Pip cards, but the name Pip Decks comes from the main illustrated character featured in our decks… her name is Pip!
Why are Pip Decks so popular?
Pip Decks have sold tens of thousands of copies around the world. To companies and institutions like Apple, Nike, Google, Microsoft, Harvard and Stanford University. We have dozens of video testimonials of customers sharing their experience with Pip Decks.
So what is driving this unprecedented popularity in a seemingly innocent and fun looking product?
We live in a world now where practically everything is digital. In this transition, we have lost much of the physicality we have evolved with over the past few millennia. Us humans love to hold and touch and smell and taste. All that is gone when staring at a glowing rectangle! No wonder physical goods like vinyl records are more popular than ever.
And when it comes to practical advice, prompts, and instructions - we tend to turn to Google for answers and inspiration. And what does Google give you? Millions of results across thousands of ad-ridden, SEO-bland text insisting on telling you their grandmother’s backstory before getting to the point.
Pip Decks rejects the notion of infinite answers. Curating down to precisely 54 cards is what makes Pip Decks so powerful. Like a DJ curates music, we curate the most potent recipes for things like storytelling and workshop facilitation. So you know you have everything you need. No more, no less.
And then there’s just the physicality of it. Sure, you can instantly share a web link with someone. But it doesn’t beat the power of handing someone a well-designed, 400gsm matte finish card — that has been so carefully wordsmithed to contain exactly the information you need. After all, it has to fit on the back of a card!
They trump books too. You’d have to tear out a page (if that page actually happened to be distilled enough to contain entire step-by-step guidance on a highly valuable task) if you wanted to share it with a friend or colleague. Otherwise, you’d have to lend the whole book.
I might be laying it on thick now, but you might start to see why we’re so passionate about what we’re creating here. We’ve seen first hand and hear an awful lot from our customers about how there is something innately magical about owning a Pip Deck. Something that a book or a web link simply cannot square up to.
What different Pip Decks are there?
We have a growing library of decks that complement each other by focusing on the essential skills that make for highly effective operators in the professional world. Whether in a team - or large organisation, individually as a coach, consultant, or solo operator who loves having expert knowledge at their fingertips.
The current library consists of:
Workshop Tactics: Get your career confidence back. Learn how to run effective workshops. Put an end to pointless meetings and start getting important work done.
Storyteller Tactics: Learn how to craft a memorable story that will influence and inspire your team, customers and clients. Find the right story at the right time to upgrade your presentations. Tell stories that sell.
Team Tactics: Become a confident leader. Learn how to design workshops and rituals that get the best out of your team. Always know what’s next.
Innovation Tactics: The ultimate innovator’s toolkit. Start making things people want to buy. Launch new ideas that sell themselves.
Strategy Tactics: Confidently make decisions that propel your business. Craft concrete strategies that launch your business to a whole new level. Kiss the vague nonsense goodbye.
Brand Tactics: Create a brand customers love to buy from (again and again). Learn to create a standout brand by making your unique value clear. And leave your competitors in the dust.
Productivity Tactics: Overcome procrastination (once and for all). Finally get that project started. Learn to build effective habits and tackle your to-do list.
We have more Pip Decks in the pipeline, so watch this space!
How do you use Pip Decks?
Video demo of Workshop Tactics
Watch Werner Perchart — Design Director at MURAL — deep dive into how the Workshop Tactics Pip Deck is structured:
Using them on your own or one-to-one
There are many ways our customers use Pip Decks. And it entirely depends on what you’re trying to do. Here are a few scenarios you might find Pip Decks useful:
- Working out a problem on your own
- Working out a problem in a group
- Coaching/giving guidance to someone else on a problem
- Coaching/giving guidance to a group on a problem
Owning a Pip Deck means you become the go-to person for sage wisdom. Half the time, you only need to pick out a card that you know will help someone, and they can go off and put it into action — and then come back for more!
But it also means you have a library of tools available when you need to work through problems on your own or with your team.
Using them in a team
Some teams like to sit down and consult the Strategy Card together. This card helps you find the right category of tactics to start with, depending on your current situation.
In other cases, you might find the tactics beforehand, bring them to your team, and put them into action.
Having the instructions on a card means everyone can follow along because the plan of action is right in front of you and not hidden away on a website or in the depths of a book!
Picking a sequence of cards
Most cards in a Pip Deck contain guidance on what other cards go well with it. This means you don’t get stuck when you ask yourself, “so what should I do now?”. Following the related links in the deck, you can create a sequence of tactics to help you achieve your goal.
We have also created some pre-made sequences that can be found in the Recipe and Session categories. For example, in Storyteller Tactics - there is a recipe called “Stories that Sell”, which shows you a sequence of tactics that will help you craft a narrative that helps you sell products and services.
Who should use Pip Decks?
Pip Decks is a potent tool for all disciplines and industries. Most notably:
- Consultants
- Facilitators
- Coaches
- Team Leaders
- Heads of / CEOs
- Professors and Educators
- Entrepreneurs and Innovators
Anyone who understands and appreciates the power of putting timeless knowledge into action - should have a Pip Deck on their desk or in their coat pocket.
Many of our customers have attributed Pip Decks to putting their careers on a higher trajectory. Citing salary raises and promotions due to the impact they have created from the information contained in Pip Decks.
Moreover, Pip Decks gives people the confidence to put into practice things they might already know. And for those wise folk who are already familiar with a lot of the material, it becomes a powerful coaching tool to help upskill their colleagues and teammates.
So, in a nutshell, for people who want to up their game at work, or 10x their ability to get higher paying clients, or coach and upskill their teams — Pip Decks is for you.
Preview the cards
Want to explore further into Pip Decks? Check out all the cards from Workshop Tactics and Storyteller Tactics for free.
Or if you want to dive right in, go ahead and buy your physical decks here.
Here is a select list of customers who own Pip Decks:
Apple, Nike, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Stanford University, Harvard University, Lockheed Martin, Cisco, US Government, Uber, Logitech, Salesforce, Amazon, Capital Group, JP Morgan, Unity, Electronic Arts, Deloitte, NASA, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Netflix, Ford, MIT, KPMG, Capital One, Chase, Bell, BBC, HM Government, Bupa, IDEO plus hundreds of others.