“Just because it looks impossible doesn’t mean it is,” said world-class magician Giovanni Livera at our company’s annual training and performance improvement conference in 2010. Our theme for the event was “What if? Why not? Anything is possible.”
Gio has been in the “impossible” business—or rather the “possible” business since he was about seven years old. His parents, always strong supporters of him, got him his first magic kit. Three years later, he was doing shows. His dad got him his first business cards and displayed them at his work. He also helped promote Gio’s business by saying, “Hey, he’ll do a show. Only $5. I’ll drive him.”
Gio grew up in Orlando, Fla., and when he heard about the National Basketball Association’s new expansion team for Orlando, he knew he was destined to be the official magician for the Orlando Magic. However, the general manager at the time rejected him. Ah, but Gio had grown up “immersed” by dreamers in a city filled with dreamers in a country where anything is possible. So he began working on ways to make that dream come true.
Gio started a word-of-mouth campaign and, a year later, received a phone call from the GM saying, “Hey, I hear you’re supposed to be our official magician….” Gio did a show for the decision makers and was told he had four games to make a go of it.
During the first three shows, he did his traditional magic tricks. But nothing was quite big enough—literally, size mattered here—to allow a broad audience to see what he was doing. He only had one shot left. No pun intended.
Between games three and four, Gio rigged a helmet with a backboard and two handles. During game four, he picked an unsuspecting volunteer from the audience and had him wear the helmet. Gio then tossed a basketball to another spectator. The ensuing “game” in the stadium’s upper section during one of the breaks in the professional event got the whole section going.
During the next break, Gio went down to section 115—where the general manager sat. Gio got that section all excited about the mini-game. During each break, Gio rotated between the upper deck and the lower deck and got the enthusiasm and energy going. He had done it; he had become the official magician for the Orlando Magic, but not by using magic. Instead, he had changed and re-invented himself and some tricks of his trade. If there is “no change, [then there is] no change.” Change can be a good thing. “Not everything [is possible], but anything is possible.”
“Just because it looks impossible doesn’t mean it is,” Gio said. “If you don’t ever attempt the impossible, you’ll never achieve it.”
As Walt Disney said, it’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
Epilogue: Gio later modified his original basketball helmet into a basketball backpack with telescoping backboard controlled by two ropes so the wearer can control the height of the backboard to try and catch the stray basketball. It’s been patented and can be seen at many pro-sporting events where you can also see the t-shirt cannon he invented.
This article was originally one of Bob Pike’s blog postings. To follow his weekly blog, you can go here and sign up for an RSS feed, too! Or like us on facebook, and the article will show up in your newsfeed.
Save the dates for next year’s conference in Minneapolis! The dates for pre-conference workshops and the conference are Sept. 21-26, 2014. To register, call us at 1-800-383-9210.
