CEO: To help us with that question, we're joined now by Michael Useem. He's director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
MICHAEL USEEM: Thank you. Good to be here.
: And what do you think about that, Professor Useem? Steve Jobs, is he irreplaceable? As we mentioned, he has taken leaves of absence before.
USEEM: Just by way of summary, here's a dreamer and innovator who is also a doer and executor, and so he is a kind of creative and business genius at the same time.
: You said few on Earth could do what he's done. Would it be the mark, though, of a great executive to make sure that there are people behind you who can do what you've done and do it just as well?
USEEM: So, hopefully, Mr. Jobs has been providing a kind of a class, a tutorial to the top people that he's worked with on how to run that company even if he can't be there every day.
: When Steve Jobs took medical leave before, Apple did just fine. Do you think there's any chance that this is really a myth that's been created about Steve Jobs, that he is irreplaceable, that the company is Steve Jobs and can't really be the same company without him?
USEEM: Having said that, this top he's put in place, hopefully, should have kind of built into their DNA at this point an ability to think strategically, to anticipate where the consumer products market is going to be going.
: Michael Useem, thank you very much.
USEEM: Thank you.
: Michael Useem is director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.