You are able to monitor and police your standards of quality once you have defined them.

The head of a record label sets up structures, but he also defines the sound of the label, which is to describe what is desirable, what fits and what is quality for that label and then to create an environment where that sound can thrive.

You are able to create an environment so that the creative process can take place and that you can get people to perform at their highest levels.

Jazz has to work. It has to play with the audience and with the marketplace. I think that is relevant to business.

The conventional asset-allocation method is like sheet music. It is prescribed, it has right answers and wrong answers and it sounds about the same every time. But jamming is different. Jamming is when you make the music. When you improvise and adapt to conditions. When you are creative.

The C.E.O.'s job in a creativity-driven company is to be an impresario, not a manager.

Improvisation in the jazz sense - like the business sense - is not formless. It is built on a skill set. Jazz, for example, involves selecting a tune.