But something was missing. Something elemental. And that something was .

After the Apple co-founder and CEO's , pundit chatter reflected on whether Apple would lose its magic without Jobs. The consensus was that no, Apple would still be Apple.

The reason, they said, was that Jobs left behind top-notch people to run the place (mainly the cast of characters you see in those , plus Tim Cook). Moreover, although Jobs was an effective leader in his later years, he was never a designer or engineer -- he was never one of the people who actually made the products and agonized over the details.

But this view completely misses what was so unique and effective about Jobs.