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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Creativity is not like the weather: You can do something about it. And you can measure it well enough to determine its effect on sales and profits.