Innovators as Magical Realists: Bringing Awe to Reality

People don’t buy innovation just because it’s innovative. Sure, a tiny minority of people jump at anything new, eager to be the first to experience it, only to abandon it when the next novelty arrives. But these enthusiasts of novelty for novelty’s sake don’t ensure the success of products. At most, they may give them an initial boost.

Referring back to Everett Rogers' diffusion of innovation curve, what ignites success are the early adopters and the early majority, and what confirms it are the late majority and the laggards. That’s when innovations become part of our reality and start to transform it.

I like to think of this process as magical realism, a term that came to mind while preparing for a TEDx talk in Palo Alto. Just as magical realism in literature blends reality with surreal elements, viewing innovators as magical realists emphasizes their ability to bridge the gap between what’s possible and what feels extraordinary. It’s an art that makes complex concepts feel intuitive and remarkable, reshaping our environment so profoundly that users experience a shift in perspective, as though something unimaginable has suddenly become tangible.

Think of the sense of wonder when people saw passengers on George Stephenson’s Locomotion No. 1 on September 27, 1825, or the millions of viewers glued to their TVs as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969, or your child’s first discovery of cat pictures on Yahoo in 1995.

Decade after decade, people have experienced similar awe while watching great demos: like the Deep Blue supercomputer defeating world chess champion Garry Kasparov or, in one of the most iconic tech launches, Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone by calling it three devices in one: “an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator.”

Magical realists establish an emotional connection with innovations, making them more accessible and, therefore, more adoptable. When we think of innovators producing innovations, we think of products. When we see innovators as magical realists, we consider the impact of those products on people.

Innovations succeed not just because they work, but because they resonate. While an innovator may see brilliance in every feature, users come with different expectations. What creates a true connection is often an emotional bond—how the product makes life simpler, more exciting, or more meaningful. Innovators who are magical realists understand this and craft their products and demos to tap into that shared sense of wonder and empowerment.

When presenting their product, many innovators tend to dwell on the hard work that led them to the result, which, as I explain in my book, is often indisputable. Yet, however rocky and arduous the road to innovating may be, once we are close to a finished product, we must set aside the pains and angst we’ve gone through. Users don’t care about the struggle; they want something that improves or illuminates their lives.

As I recently said to a brilliant entrepreneur who was showing me his new approach to designing a customizable ERP, “show the magic, don’t explain it.” Even more: expect this to happen—of all the features you’ve developed, only one or two will captivate your audience, sometimes even minor ones. Don’t be disappointed. Customers view products from their own perspective, not yours. If you overelaborate, the initial magic you conveyed might get drowned in questions and thus disappear.

So, remember, it’s not just about what your product can do; it’s about how it makes people feel.

Side Note: As far as I know, the expression “Magical Realist” has rarely been used to discuss innovators. Traditionally, this expression has been applied to the arts and, more recently, to a contemporary Latin American literary genre that seamlessly amalgamates real and magical elements, with authors such as Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges. If you’ve read The Aleph or The Library of Babel, for example, you can see the world around us as an immense book of human artifacts continuously rewritten by magical realists.