For me, what Steve embodied was the ability to get to the essence of a problem from a customer's perspective and drive to unique solutions.  Steve was able to combine an exquisite design sensibility and aesthetic, with a fierce courage to follow his own convictions and vision, and the very rare ability to force his employees out of their comfort zone and delivery the quality of work they did not even know they had in them.

As a manager, on an aribitrary scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best; if one of my employees really busted their butt and tried their hardest and delivered a 9;  I would pat them on the head and say a genuine thank you for their effort.  In that same situation, many a time I saw someone work their heart out and deliver the best work they thought they were capable of, only to have Steve rip them to shreds and tell them their work was crap.  He would force people out of their comfort zones to deliver 10 or even transcend themselves to deliver an 11. 

In the summer of 1984, a young Mark Achler sat in an Apple Computer Board of Directors meeting with Steve Jobs discussing ideas for an event for Apple retailers. They would invite retailers to one location to introduce them to new products and provide some technical training. As it turns out, this was the beginning of what would later become the  Macworld Expo.

Steve was excited about the upcoming event and he wanted to have a party to entertain the retailers. He thought they should hire Michael Jackson. He looked at Mark and said, “go call Michael Jackson and see if he can play at our party and how much it will cost. Then come back in here and let me know.”

“Okay.” said Mark.