Amaze & Delight

Amaze & Delight: Secrets to Creating Magic in Business

A Book on How to Create Stronger Teams and Happier Customers

This book is a thoroughly researched and entertaining guide written for executives, managers, and people who are directly responsible for a the day-to-day operations and profitability of a business or team.

Written by Robert Strong and David Martinez — two magicians who have dedicated their lives to captivating and entertaining audiences — Amaze & Delight reveals their well-guarded secrets to help you improve your leadership skills, build a workplace culture that people love, and create customer experiences that feel like magic.

You’ll enjoy illuminating stories from their careers in magic, comedy, and high-tech. And you’ll learn helpful, practical advice that you can start implementing right away, including:

How to deliver attention-grabbing presentations
How to run meetings and events that are effective at accomplishing their goals
How to create magical experiences for your customers
How to cultivate a psychologically safe and supportive work environment
How to forge stronger connections with your team, even if they work remotely

Plus, you'll get detailed instructions for 12 magic tricks you can use to wow your coworkers and friends.

Praise for Amaze & Delight

“This book provides powerful tools on the art of grabbing attention, integrating humor, and finding meaningful team-building activities.”

—Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures

“If you need to build cohesive and motivated teams, read this book... or even better, hire Robert and David to show you how to do it in person. They bring life, humor, and magic to every interaction.”

—Emile Litvak, Vice President, Meta

“Brilliant! A must-read for anyone who is passionate about building a strong workplace culture. The wisdom shared is strategic, practical, and powerful.”

—Mirit Cohen, Senior Manager, Global Workplace Experience, Adobe

“All of us are capable of creating magical experiences that energize work. This book demystifies the process and shows you how.”

—Nawal Fakhoury, Director, Employee Experience, LinkedIn

About the Authors

Robert Strong has been voted San Francisco’s “Best Magician” three times and “Best Comedian” twice by the Bay Guardian. He is Google’s unofficial Chief Magic Officer and has been teaching magic there for years to stimulate creativity in the people who work there.

He performs at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, consults and invents magic tricks that are performed by other professional magicians, produces conferences for professional speakers and entertainers, and books some of the world’s top talent for live appearances at corporate events.

He is the co-producer and host of Comedy Talks: Conversations with the Legends of Comedy and has shared the stage with countless celebrities, including Robin Williams.

He has performed in 50 countries, all 50 states, and twice at the White House. He has been a 10-year artist-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution, resident magician at TEDx San Francisco, resident magician at Singularity University, resident magician at SF Sketchfest, and he sits on the board of the non-profit Wonderfest.

David Martinez spent most of his 30-year career in dual roles. By day, he worked as a copywriter in advertising, marketing, and product development—including the last 17 years in various senior creative roles at Apple in Cupertino. On evenings and weekends, he honed his craft as a magician performing at company celebrations, private parties, birthdays, festivals, team-building events, and more.

In October 2021, he left Apple to focus on magic, speaking, and writing. He has won awards for his magic, and he served as president of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (I.B.M. Ring 216).

Over the course of my magic career, David has performed for some of the biggest companies in the world—including Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Deloitte, Lyft, Uber, Comcast—as well as for hundreds of brides, grooms, spouses, and parents who brought me in to make their private events more special.

Prior to all that, David received a bachelor's degree in English from U.C. Berkeley. In addition to writing for high-tech companies like Apple and Logitech, he is the author of The Book of Baseball Literacy. He lives in San Jose with his wife, daughter, and son.