August 9, 2025

The Magic Ingredient

I was the type of kid who preferred to dismantle my new toys rather than play with them. I guess I enjoyed knowing how they worked more than experiencing them working.

I mean, anyone can PLAY with a Hot Wheels set, but how many people KNOW how to construct a magnet-driven vehicle using tightly wrapped copper wire?

Mostly, I think my propensity to dissect everything served me pretty well, BUT there have been a few instances where it really screwed me.

Music, for example.

In the 80s, I fell in love with the electric guitar and wanted to be a rock star. I went to Berklee College of Music and graduated cum laude.

I came to realize embarrassingly late in life that you can’t figure out how music works by breaking it down into atomic units.

The more closely you inspect the various components of a performance - say, War Pigs by Black Sabbath - the LESS you know about why it rocks.

The recording itself is an indivisible unit.

Breaking it down into anything smaller (e.g., notes, chords, timbre, arrangement, tempo, rhythm, lyrics, phrasing, etc) is a distraction from which you will learn nothing useful if what you want to do is create a song that rocks.

No matter how small you break things down and how precisely you categorize them, you will never locate the magic ingredient.

Here’s the thing...

Why am I telling you this?

Because I suspect that creating a business “that rocks” is similar.

It’s a combination of many things working in harmony that leads to success.

There is no magic ingredient.

Yours,

—J

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