Every magician has a special set of tricks up their sleeve. Andrew Bennett’s greatest illusion, however, is convincing his audience that he’s merely an executive coach and leadership and organizational culture consultant. 

As the founder of Bennett Performance Group, he brings three decades of experience working with leaders across five continents, representing more than 130 organizations ranging from Google to the United States Marine Corps. This expertise eventually led him to American University, where he serves as an adjunct professorial lecturer for the School of Public Affairs and its Key Executive Leadership Programs. 

His professional credentials offer no hint of an even older calling. Then comes the big reveal: a few minutes into a presentation, Bennett performs an unexpected magic trick to drive home a lesson in leadership.

“There’s almost an inhale of, ‘Oh, this could be interesting,’” Bennett said. “Then, people are paying attention because they don’t want to miss the next one.” 

Bennett has been a practicing magician for nearly 60 years. He’s been a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians for close to 50 years and The Magic Circle of London for 26. 

His journey began on Christmas Day 1968 in Beulah, Michigan, when he unwrapped a Mr. Magic set— the only item he’d circled in that year’s 600-page Sears Roebuck Christmas Wishbook. 

The box promised to teach him to “fool your friends.” Bennett and his grandfather immediately began mastering beginner’s tricks, such as “multiplying rabbits.”  Even as a second grader, the ability to captivate a crowd and evoke a sense of wonder drove him deeper into the craft. 

“It’s a joyful experience—that moment of magic,” Bennett said. “Seeing that in other people tickled me.”

By the following Halloween, Bennett had booked his first gig (paid in candy). He soon graduated to complex illusions learned and began performing in church basements and grange halls for actual fees.

As a teenager, he attended the Abbotts Magic Get Together in Colon, Michigan, where he met a producer for Channel 29 in Traverse City. This connection led to his own television program, The Andy Bennett Magic Show, which aired from the time he was 14 until he was 18. Bennett performed live magic in the intervals between Tom and Jerry cartoons. 

While magic supported him through college, Bennett eventually, hit an “existential wall,” searching for a deeper purpose beyond mere entertainment

“If you really could do magic, why would you do card tricks?” Bennett wondered. “That dissonance gnawed at me, and over the years, searching for deeper meaning in magic became essential.”

He found that meaning through business leader and 1992 presidential candidate H. Ross Perot. 

After graduating from Michigan State University, Bennett became Perot’s personal assistant and spent a decade at Electronic Data Systems. In 1984, after Bennett performed at a company holiday party, Perot encouraged him to find ways for his magic to communicate memorable messages.

Perot soon invited Bennett to apply this philosophy during a presentation to the General Motors board of directors. Bennett slowly ripped a newspaper to symbolize how disparate communications systems were “tearing us apart.” As he faced a room of skeptical, arms-crossed executives, he revealed the restored, untorn sheet. 

“Just as the newspaper is restoring in front of their eyes, I delivered the line, ‘We need to restore the connections between our two companies,’” Bennett recalled. 

The room erupted. Serious businesspeople broke into howling laughter, some pounding the table or jumping from their seats. The message had landed. Perot made Bennett promise to never do magic gratuitously again; “Make sure you have a point.” 

Today, magic is a staple of every lesson Bennett teaches, whether in the boardroom or classroom. He has produced TEDx Talks in 2015 and 2019 on magic as a tool for transformation and is currently writing a memoir. The book explores his life through magic’s three fundamentals: appearance, disappearance, and restoration. 

“Magic has been there every step of the way,” Bennett said. “Since age seven, magic is the one constant in my life.”