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Felix Lenhard

Strategy and Innovation Consultant

Felix Lenhard is a strategy and innovation consultant, keynote speaker, and co-founder of Vulpine Creations. He writes about the psychology of wonder, the craft of performance, and what magic teaches about communication, attention, and human connection.

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Latest Posts

Passion Is a Side Effect of Mastery: The Last Thing I Learned and the First Thing That Mattered A thousand posts about magic, craft, and the long journey from a hotel room in an unfamiliar city to stages where real people experience genuine wonder. Cal Newport was right: passion follows mastery. But the journey that produced that understanding was the whole point. Be So Good They Cannot Ignore You: Why Skill Beats Passion for Adult Learners Cal Newport argues that 'follow your passion' is dangerous advice. Build rare and valuable skills — career capital — and passion follows. I did not start with passion for magic. I started with a deck of cards and boredom. The passion came from getting good at something genuinely difficult. The Adjacent Possible: Magic at the Intersection of Business and Wonder Innovation happens at the edges of what is already known — the adjacent possible. Felix's unique position at the intersection of business consulting and magic creates possibilities that neither world has alone. The most interesting territory is always at the border. You Will Use Everything You Ever Knew Steve Martin's comedy used his magic, his banjo, his philosophy degree — nothing was wasted. Rachel Carson: nothing you truly learn is wasted. For an adult learner, the entire prior life is a resource. The consulting experience, the analytical training, the music — all of it feeds the magic. The Magic Shop Where Steve Martin Became Steve Martin Steve Martin worked at Disneyland's magic shop from age 15, demonstrating effects eight to twelve hours a day. That shop was his 10,000 hours of stage time before he ever had a stage. My hotel rooms were my version of the same thing — a place that looked like limitation and turned out to be foundation. Steve Martin's Ten-Year Apprenticeship: Why the Long Road Is the Only Road Steve Martin spent ten years learning, four years refining, and four years in wild success. The apprenticeship was invisible to the audience — but it was total. His story is a map for anyone who discovers a craft later than expected and wonders whether the timeline can be compressed. Perseverance Is a Great Substitute for Talent Steve Martin said he had no natural talent for stand-up comedy, so he persevered. This sentence, buried in his memoir, is the most useful thing anyone has ever said to adult learners. Systematic persistence over natural ability is not plan B. It is the only plan that works long-term. Why Your Worst Performance Is Your Most Valuable Data Carol Dweck's growth mindset treats failure as information, not identity. My worst shows taught me more than my best ones ever did. One performance failure in particular — which I would have happily erased from existence — turned out to be the most instructive night of the entire journey. Fixed Mindset's Favourite Lie: If You Were Meant to Do This It Would Come Naturally The fixed mindset's most dangerous belief is that difficulty signals absence of talent. I believed this for a while, watching teenagers learn in weeks what I struggled with for months. Carol Dweck helped me see why it was wrong — and what the difficulty actually meant. The Dragons Are Princesses: What Rilke Taught Me About Stage Fright Rilke wrote that perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses waiting to see us act with beauty and courage. Stage fright, the fear of failure, the terror of the blank moment — they are not enemies. They are something else entirely.
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