In our desperate search for simplicity, people want success to work like a garage door opener, where a four-number code springs the lock. But culture is not a keypad, and people are not doors. Our codes are ever changing in reaction to our environment. If you can imagine a keypad that gets bored of the overuse of certain numbers—or a garage that subtly changes its code to mimic the numbers from neighboring households—then you are beginning to think like the hit makers I spoke to in this book. I can’t offer a universal formula in these pages. But I can offer subtler and truer lessons about why
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