What’s the first magical thing you remember seeing? And who is the first magician you ever saw?

In 1976, my wife and I went to our first magic show in Jaipur, India. We still talk about the show as it was during our honeymoon. I remember the magician wearing a long coat and turban, swallowing swords and putting that sword in a bucket.

Who got you into magic? Who has been a key mentor, or two, or three, for you in your magic career? And how can someone get into magic today—or get their kid into magic?

I have been interested in magic since I was very young because my father gave me a book called “Math & Magic”, not because I was interested in magic, but because I was not good at math. Little did he know what an impact that would make.
 
I have been doing playing card and mathematical magic since I was eight. As a practicing physician, I did magic for my patients during chemotherapy infusion in my clinic. But in 2013, I attended the McBride School of Magic and Mystery in Las Vegas. This was my first experience learning Magic professionally. I did, however, once attend a Continued Medical Education Class which was related to Magic in Medicine.  My mentors in Magic are Jeff McBride, Eugene Burger, and Larry Hass. I have been lucky to learn from many magicians outside of the school such as Eric Henning, David Morey, Scott Alexander; just to name a few.

Read more

Recently, London’s Guardian published a fascinating article outlining research that shows magicians have a lower mental health risk. And I thought we magicians were crazy. Who knew?

In my recent book, Creating Business Magic, we focused on translating the lessons of the world’s greatest magicians to business. Well, why not? There is astounding synergistic power in crossing disciplines. Above all else, it forces you to channel a change leader’s curiosity—and too, apparently, studying magic and applying it to business is good for your mental health!

Years ago, I worked with Walter Isaacson on several projects. There is no better biographer writing today. He connects a key thread between his biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Steve Jobs. All of his subjects display, he says, “almost childlike curiosities.” Franklin crossed science with statesmanship to fuel brilliant innovating. Einstein, stuck on an equation, picked up his violin to play Mozart and thereby found his way out of the problem by reconnecting with the universe. Da Vinci borrowed from his work on anatomical drawings, including the dissection of lips, while struggling some fourteen years to paint the world’s most famous smile on the face in history’s most famous painting.

And as for Steve Jobs—our first corporate client back in the 1980s—the Apple founder and second-act turnaround CEO borrowed continually from his early visits to Japan, his study of calligraphy, and memories of a rebellious youth. On June 12, 2005, delivering one of history’s most watched and re-watched commencement addresses, knowing he was very sick, Jobs offered one big piece of advice for the Stanford graduates who leaned in, listening for the future meaning of their lives.

Jobs recalled for his audience his youthful memories of the Whole Earth Catalog, a bible for his generation, assembled by Steward Brand using typewriter, scissors, and a Polaroid camera. The iconic catalog was about to cease publication when Jobs was 22, the same age as the Stanford students he was addressing. And Jobs talked that day about how he absorbed the headline from the final issue, printed beneath a photograph of an early morning country road, a road along which any twenty-two-year-old like Jobs might hitchhike. It said: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

Jobs tells the graduates: “And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

The change leaders of our generation and the next must stay hungry and foolish. They must cross their disciplines. And they must study arts such as magic and continually think outside of the box—like magicians.

Doing so will help all of us think and lead change better—and, the new research shows, it will also help us stay mentally and spiritually healthier.

---

Join us for our next Washington Magic Holiday and Family Show on December 13th at 6:30 p.m. at the legendary Arts Club of Washington—for drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and snacks, close-up magic, and a full stage performance—all for a special discounted $68.

In times like these, we need a little more magic. So . . . come find your own real magician! Tickets will sell quickly . . . and will sell out. Please join us now at:

www.washingtonmagic.com

One of the best experiences I’ve had in getting back into magic is studying with the world’s greatest magicians.

See the picture below, back in 2007, with the brilliant Lennart Green, world champion and the remarkable Roberto Giobbi, the fantastic author and teacher . . . considered two of the greatest in history. Over a few days in Las Vegas, we workshopped, learned, and sharpened our closeup card magic . . . . today, one of the most popular forms of magic.

Read more