Here’s an email I sent out last week:
Yesterday, I finished reading a book called ‘Zero to One’, and boy did it have a powerful lesson for magicians woven into its pages…
A little context:
This book was written by a man named Peter Thield.
You may not have heard of him, but you’ve almost undoubtedly heard of the company he co-founded…PayPal.
In this book, Thiel distills some of his unique insights and ideas on how to build hugely successful companies—at a glance, not the most relevant info for magicians…
However, I found ONE of the chapters to be immensely interesting and packed with insights VERY relevant to magicians.
The chapter was called ‘Founder’s Paradox’ and, to cut a long story short, Peter suggests that the divisive, charismatic, and highly unusual leaders of famous companies (think characters like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Elon Musk, etc) didn’t START that way.
Instead, they started out a little unusual. Then, they quickly get a reputation for being ‘unusual’, and to further strengthen their brand—they ‘dialed up’ their unusualness to the max. And finally—other people observed this behaviour and THEY also ‘dialed up’ and exaggerated their unusualness in their conversations with other people.
(Read that a couple of times to really let it ‘sink in.’)
What’s the point of all this?
Let’s get into the gory details…
In his book, Peter says this:
“Where does this strange and extreme combination of traits come from? They could be present from birth (nature) or acquired from an individual’s environment (nurture). But perhaps founders aren’t really as extreme as they appear. Might they strategically exaggerate certain qualities? Or is it possible that everyone else exaggerates them? All of these effects can be present at the same time, and whenever present they powerfully reinforce each other. The cycle usually starts with unusual people and ends with them acting and seeming even more unusual.”
The key to all of it is a simple 4 step formula in the ‘cycle’ Peter refers to. Here’s my (paraphrased) version:
- Be unusual
- Get a reputation for being unusual
- DIAL UP that level of ‘unusualness’ on purpose in reaction to your new reputation
- Watch other people naturally DIAL UP and exaggerate your unusualness in their recounting of your performances
You may have noticed I slipped into ‘magic talk’ in that last step.
That was intentional.
See, this method not only worked like gangbusters for founders and CEOs of some of the world’s most iconic companies, it works for magicians too.
(whether they’re aware of it or not)
Of course, I can’t speak for them personally, but I’d wager there’s more than a few magicians that have used this technique to propel themself to their current status.
David Williamson comes to mind.
Has he always been so crazy? Or was it simply that he was naturally a little ‘out there’, discovered it seemed to be doing good things for his career, and so purposefully stepped it up?
Juan Tamariz is another example.
While I won’t pretend to understand a tenth of the thinking that goes on in that man’s brain, I’d suggest watching the video below and asking yourself:
“Was Juan ALWAYS this crazy, or did he start out kinda-crazy and dial his persona up a few notches for his acts?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfwdvQaLIE
And, of course—ask yourself how this might apply to YOU and your performances.
Don’t start being weird and unusual in a damaging way.
Observe the lessons from Williamson and Tamariz—do it in a playful, engaging and ENTERTAINING way, that fits with your natural character.
Alright, that’s enough for today.
I’ll be back with more goodies later this week.
Your friend,
Benji