Leadership and the Forgotten Magic

In today’s world, leadership is dominated by ratio — logic, data, frameworks, and metrics. We build strategies, define KPIs, optimize performance. We seek control, predictability, and certainty.

But that’s only half the story.

There is another force in leadership. A quieter, less visible one. It doesn’t sit in spreadsheets or agendas. It lives in the spaces between words, in the unexpected spark of insight, in the resonance between people.

I call this force magic.

What Is Magic?

Magic is not fantasy. It’s not trickery. It’s not irrationality.

Magic is this:

Things that are real — even when we don’t understand them.

We experience magic when something moves us in a way logic can’t explain. A deep sense of connection in a meeting. A moment of synchronicity. A moment of perfect flow. A sense of timing that’s too perfect. A creative insight that appears out of nowhere. A gut feeling that turns out to be right — even when the data disagreed.

Our minds may object, but something in us knows: this is real.

Magic and ratio often contradict each other.

Magic resists rules. It defies convention.

It asks us to step outside of logic and into presence.

This doesn’t make it less valuable. In fact, it may be where the deepest value lies.

Magic Is the Heart. Ratio Is the Mind.

Leadership exists in the tension between control and surrender. Between structure and spontaneity. Between the tangible and the mysterious.

In business, we often over-index on control. We want predictable outcomes, repeatable processes, measurable returns. And yes, those are necessary.

But when we lead only with ratio, we risk building hollow systems. Machines without soul.

Magic is what fills those systems with life.

It’s not chaos — it’s emergence.

It’s the energy that connects people beyond roles, sparks creativity beyond instruction, and gives purpose beyond profit.

Why Leadership Needs Magic

Leadership is not just about hitting targets. It’s about unlocking human potential.

And human potential isn’t purely rational. It’s emotional. Relational. Intuitive. Mysterious.

If we lead only from reason, we build structures.

If we also lead from magic, we build culture.

Magic helps a leader notice what’s not being said.

It invites boldness, without certainty.

It brings meaning to the mission and soul to the strategy.

And often, magic shows up where logic says it shouldn’t.

Reclaiming the Magic

We live in a world that forgets magic.

We favor answers over questions. Outcomes over meaning. Control over curiosity.

But magic hasn’t disappeared — we’ve just stopped making space for it.

Great leadership makes space.

It listens deeply.

It holds ambiguity.

It trusts what the mind cannot fully grasp.

And when it does, something extraordinary happens:

People don’t just comply — they come alive.