🎩💡 InSleightful Thinking: What a Group of Students Learning Magic Taught Me About Creativity and Mastery

Michael Granoff
11 minutes ago
3 min read

Learning magic with an eager group of high schoolers

Meta TitlE: What a Group of Magic Students Taught Me About Marketing and Mastery | InSleightful Thinking

Meta Description: Michael Granoff reflects on performing for a room of young magicians — and what it reveals about building curiosity, and creative artestry.

✨ What happens when you perform magic… for a room full of students just starting to learn magic themselves?

An opportunity arose this week to do just that.

I performed alongside a wonderfully talented fellow card magician (Tony C.) for a group of about 20 high school students participating in a magic elective course — led by a biology and chemistry teacher who is a marvelous magician himself; and in fact one of my original teachers (Shawn M). 🎭 👍

We had a wonderful time. These 15-17 year-olds were fully engaged — reacting with delight: "Whaaat?! Wait… how?!" "That’s… wait, what??!" 😳😧

Stretching the ropes - "WAIT!...Whaaat??!"

And lots of laughter and applause (which, of course, we magicians love). ♥️🎩

Something's about to happen... Think these guys are engaged?

But something else was happening — something that offers a lesson for all of us in marketing and creative work or experience design.

🪄 The Deeper Curiosity

After our performances, Shawn led a panel discussion on topics like character development, style, mindset, and approach.

Here’s what stood out: None of the students asked, "How did you do that trick?"

Instead, they asked:

How do you think about developing your magic?
How do you approach shaping your persona?
How do you create an experience that feels magical?

That’s the mark of true engagement — the curiosity moves beyond the surface and into the process, the thinking, the story behind the experience. We were impressed by the fact that these are students completely new to learning magic, yet their curiosity went well beyond doing tricks. (We need to keep a watchful eye out for upcoming talent with the qualities we observed in this group!)

🪄 Witness to Mastery Taking Shape

Later, we had the opportunity to work with the students in small groups, helping them refine the magic they’re learning.

And here, another lesson emerged — one that applies to every marketer and creative thinker:

We could literally see creativity and mastery taking shape before our eyes.

New neural connections forming as they're learning magic
Changes in physicality, focus, and relaxation — subtle shifts that made a method more deceptive
Muscle memory beginning to build
Greater clarity in answering the essential question: “What’s the effect I want to create?”

This is the process of creative growth in action — whether you’re learning magic, marketing, storytelling, or any other craft.

✨ The Takeaway for all of us "creative thinkers"

👉 Great marketing or experiences of any kind, like great magic, should invite curiosity — not just deliver an answer. 👉 The real power is in making your audience lean in and ask deeper questions about your story, your brand, your purpose. 👉 And as creators, we must embrace the process of constant refinement — building mastery through deliberate, intentional practice, iteration, and clarity of that intent. And we shouldn't settle for "good enough when there's room for improvement.

One comment that captured the spirit of the moment was the way Tony described watching one particular part of a routine I performed: "(This is enjoyable to watch) precisely BECAUSE (of the) attention to detail. You don't half-ass a vanish (by doing a) simple move or 'whatever.' That vanish had be pure, and I admire that thinking." (Thanks Tony!)

✨ Closing Thought

Ask yourself this week:

Are you designing experiences that invite curiosity — or just delivering surface-level impressions?
Are you cultivating your own creative mastery with the same deliberate practice these young magicians showed?

That’s where the real magic happens.

✨

How are you building curiosity — and your own creative mastery — this week? Send me a note at michaelg@magicofmichaelg.com — I’d love to hear from you. 💡🎩