It was no less a part of Apple when Steve Jobs returned in the ’90s—the Think Different campaign featuring posters of some of Jobs’ heroes, the musical performances that accompanied many Apple events, the iTunes Store, Apple’s retail stores. The design of every scrap of anything produced by Apple.

This is not the way it’s supposed to work. Companies were meant to be faceless. Monolithic. Uncaring. Bean-counter laden. There’s a formula. And successful companies follow that formula.

Except when, like Jobs and Apple, they broke the mold and tap into something positive. Successful companies have a personality. Successful companies produce products informed by art. Successful companies don’t rip off their customers with shoddy goods.

Successful companies are cool.

In this cynical age it’s fashionable to roll your eyes at the excessive flakiness of the ’60s. And deserved though it often is, it was a time that spawned some fierce notions. It took a just-as-fierce individual to turn those notions into something workable. Something that made sense.