You may not know the name Juan Tamariz, but I wish you did. I learned so much watching him perform.
This morning, Genii magazine’s memorial to “The Maestro” shared a quote from him that elegantly and precisely put into words something I’ve spent my life trying to create:
“At the limit, at the ultimate climax, lies a continuous field without distances or cracks, without borders or clocks, a universe of hazard, of joy, of emotion, of feelings, of games, of imagination, of pleasure and life.
And that’s where we are heading…”
—JUAN TAMARIZ, The Magic Rainbow (2019)
When you do magic right, you blow the doors off someone’s mind.
The usual constraints loosen.
What felt impossible a moment ago suddenly feels… less impossible.
People become intensely present.
They connect with the people around them in an entirely different way.
We are seeing this together.
You see what I see—and neither of us can quite believe our eyes.
That is no trivial thing.
Watching Tamariz, calling it merely “fooling people” feels inadequate.
What he showed us was astonishment. Impossibility. Connection. Focus. Freedom.
And, above all, JOY.
Big, capital letters “JOY.”
He reveled in the fact that magic is something we experience together.
We laugh. We shout. We react. We smile.
We feel that surge of impossible, irrational, utterly human joy.
Like being back at summer camp with your buddies—caught up in something wonderful together.
Other experiences move us, delight us, and stir our emotions.
But nothing gives us quite the same feeling as:
“Something impossible just happened—and I was part of it.”
Those wonderful words of belonging—“I was part of it.”
That’s the feeling I’m reaching for when I perform for your clients, colleagues, or guests.
A moment they can’t not talk about—not only because of what happened, but because of how it felt and who was there with them.
I think of these as the “Capital M” Mysteries. Part of our shared humanity is knowing that there are some things that will always remain a mystery.
That’s what makes mystery fit so well into business events.
Shared joy. Shared mystery. The realization that none of us has all the answers.
For a few minutes, titles and departments matter a little less. Nobody has to be the expert. Everyone gets to wonder.
That gives people who might not otherwise connect something to share.
And that matters in business.
Before people can work together, learn from one another, or build a relationship, they need somewhere to begin.
Sometimes, that beginning is a shared look that says, “What just happened?”
So when you invite me to your event, the magic is what people see.
What I’m working to create is what happens between them.
Great corporate magic does not merely fill time between dinner and dessert.
It changes what is possible between the people in the room.
Til next week,
Mike
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About Mike Duseberg
Mike Duseberg is the founder of Magic Means Business and a corporate magician, mentalist, and event-engagement strategist. He helps companies use live events to create stronger face-to-face connections with employees, clients, and prospects.
