I think some of this view of Jobs needs to be anchored to the subsequent successes. Imagine if he had rejoined in '96 [when Apple seemed doomed] but then didn't churn out a bunch of successful projects ... In 1999 the outcome wasn't clear yet.

I totally believe you on terms like "bar raiser" and "accountability". (Never worked at Amazon but did have a stint in Seattle). These are tingling my "corporate bullshit" senses strongly. But I'll still say a term like "customer focus", if it's correctly applied, is very important.