So what is the real concept behind Dyson? Most people think the answer is engineering — better suction, a patented cyclone system. That is not the full answer. James Dyson did build superior technology. But that alone does not explain why people today pay seven hundred dollars for a vacuum, when a seventy-dollar vacuum also picks up dirt. The real concept has three parts.

That concept made Red Bull hard to copy, even when competitors could copy the liquid, the can size, the caffeine, and the category language. The real product was never only the drink. The real product was identity, ritual, and culture.

A few years ago, I made a bold decision. I stepped away from a high-level corporate role and walked into the unknown choosing a life of...