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

Ultimately, the impresario must know when to simply get out of the way.

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.

Jamming - which follows rules but not individual notes - gives you a different result each time, depending upon the players and the conditions in which they find themselves. It is adaptable to changing conditions.

The impresario functions as a bridge and a translator. He or she is a bridge between the creative point of view - which is often very focused on the creative task itself - and the resource-allocation process. The impresario has to make certain the funds and people required to get that task completed are available.

Instead of command and control, managing the creative process is about facilitating and permitting.

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