Obviously, Apple has nothing to do with EDI (though I bet they could’ve put together a heckuva translator back in the day), but there are still a few lessons you can glean from the book:

• It’s OK to have high standards and to stick to them. The over-riding takeaway for me was that Jobs possessed a fanatical devotion to design and it was so integral a part of him that he built, essentially though the force of his personality, a company that reflected this core value. Now, not everyone has the ability, will, and resources to do the same, but there’s nothing wrong with having core principles that drive your work.

• Don’t think the book is a recipe for how to become a successful leader. There has never been anyone like Steve Jobs who has accomplished anything like he did and there probably never will be again. He had an absolutely brutal management style that was a fit for a single company doing a specific thing at a specific point in time. It’s unlikely he would have had the same impact elsewhere.

• Accountability is a crucial ingredient for success for companies. One thing Jobs did, almost to the extreme, was hold his people accountable. His key people had to perform, and if they didn’t they heard about it and, in many cases, became ex-Apple employees.

• You are often capable of doing what you thought was impossible. Jobs was a master at getting people to produce way beyond what they thought was achievable. It sometimes took superhuman effort, other times collaboration, and often ‘thinking outside of the box’ to make it happen.

If you have some time to invest in reading a fascinating account of one of the greatest and most unique leaders in American business history, check out ‘Steve Jobs’ by Walter Isaacson. Even though you’ll soon realize he wasn’t the saintly figure portrayed in the thousands of articles eulogizing him after his death, there’s plenty there that can help you understand how he reached a level that few, if any, leaders have ever reached.