THE INFINITIVE SUCCESS AND FULFILLMENT
When everyone succeeds, we have bigger success and happiness.
(from The Power of Nice book”)
"Tony Hassini recalls the day he received a phone call from a then-unknown magician named Doug Henning. Hassini, a magician himself, possessed the blueprints for some of the
world’s most stunning illusions. “Henning had called several times before we were able to speak. When we did talk, I knew he was a magician who possibly might compete with me. My initial reaction was to be nice to him but not share any well-guarded secrets. I had spent ten years and a great deal of money to gather these blueprints, and I wasn’t about to give them to anyone,” says Hassini.
But he maintained a friendly phone relationship with Henning. “I gave him some information (nothing major) and some ideas, just to keep good relations between us,” says Hassini.
It wasn’t until the fifth or sixth conversation they had that Henning explained that he was working on a very different kind of magic show, a musical that would have a very intense storyline around magic and—most important—would do away with the old “top hat and tails” image.
Instead, Henning would have long hair and wear brightly colored clothes. “The more I listened to him, the more I thought he had a chance of succeeding,” said Hassini.
So Hassini sent Henning fourteen blueprints. “I could have charged him a good deal of money for these well-kept secrets and for my consultation. But I decided that I’d gain more from our relationship if the show was a success,” says Hassini.
Of course, Hassini’s gamble paid off. Henning’s show opened in Toronto and broke box-office ticket records in that city. The show then moved to Broadway, where it ran for four and a half years, eventually becoming the basis for a series of phenomenally successful television specials.
Henning happily shared the pie with Hassini, offering him lucrative consulting contracts and helping him promote Tony’s organization, the International Magicians Society.
The collaboration did not just enrich Henning and Hassini—it raised the profile of all magicians. Before Henning, the stereotype of the magician was a man in tuxedo and white gloves, pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Now magic was hip—which meant magicians everywhere were getting more work.
Life is not a zero-sum game: If the other person wins, I lose, or vice versa. There’s no need to squabble over Bake a Bigger Pie who gets the biggest piece of pie—we just have to bake a bigger pie.
WHEN EVERYONE SUCCEEDS, OUR SUCCESS IS BIGGER.
(Page 17, The Power of Nice)
