Dr. Will Houstoun, PhD and performer in residence at Imperial College London’s Royal College of Music in the Centre for Performance Science, shares how using the art of magic and performance can help doctors, patients and business leaders in Becoming Resilient.
How can the unlikely marriage of medicine and magic inspire us as resilient leaders? In this episode, Dr. Will Houstoun, the performer in residence at Imperial College London’s medical school, describes how he bridges the disciplines of medicine and magic to train tomorrow’s surgeons. His insights into handling disruption, embracing the audience’s assumptions, and using risk to innovate are as relevant for today’s business leaders as they are for Dr. Houstoun’s craft.
"Magic is fundamentally about assumptions. The real power in magic, I think, is that it proves we tend to not think we're making all of these assumptions. Magic's that little reminder that you are making assumptions all of the time. Approaching things with that openness and looking for connection rather than looking for differences seems to be a better way forward."