The best piece of management advice I’ve ever heard came from a boss who said his job was to set the bar for performance incredibly high and cheer like crazy for his employees to clear it.

What has been most remarkable about Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL – news – people ) under the steely scrutiny of Steve Jobs is the number of genuinely big hits the company has rolled out. It certainly has not invented everything it sells. But because we’ve seen Apple with Jobs and without, the company is almost a laboratory experiment of the role of top management in turning an idea into a “perfect” thing.

More at Forbes.com