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

Now jamming - which is about collaborative improvisation - has to do with getting people together to be creative musically. But it is a very powerful metaphor for understanding the grammar of the creative process. It applies to business and to other pursuits as well.

Tunes have notes and tempos and rules. If the tune is "All the Things You Are," you have to adhere to its structure and to the tradition behind that structure.

People must get respect for their new ideas.

The manager's job - the impresario's job - is to preside over the company's efforts to jam so the business runs really well.

If you come up with a new product, you can very easily track its contribution to the bottom line. But often the challenge can be both large and subtle.

A large part of the impresario's job has to do with maintaining and communicating standards of performance. Knowing how to set those standards - which are often more subjective than analytical - means knowing how to communicate the difference between something that is great and something that is just O.K.