Perhaps the ultimate adage in show business is, “Leave ‘em wanting more.”

As a professional speaker for the better part of three decades, the constant reminder is it is “better to stop too early than too late.”

And, this afternoon, Steve Jobs showed he knows that all business is show business as well as any executive who ever lived.

Certainly, we hope and pray there is no subsequent annoucement about his health. However, why would he desire the role of Chairman of Apple’s Board of Directors if he didn’t plan on being around?

Instead, look at what he has done. He returned to the company he had founded years earlier during a time it was on life support — with many investors calling for the corporate equivilent of “pulling the plug” — and simply turned it into the most valuable organization on the planet.

Anyone involved with manufacturing knows that product development has a long lead cycle — and that Apple is probably already working on iPhone 6 and 7, and iPad 3 and 4. Jobs’ input and influence will last for a long time.

However…it is more than that. Jobs can leave his day-to-day role now and concentrate on the big issues, rather than the details. He can continue to inspire while he relinquishes management.

And, what better time could there possibly be to leave? Apple is at the absolute, unquestioned top of the world.

In sports, fans hate it when the athlete stays around too long and tarnishs his or her image and reputation. I don’t want to think about Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform, or Willie Mays barely able to shag a fly ball for the Mets in his final year.

Jobs leaves at the absolute pinnacle.

With one more aspect…back when I was working a bit in television news, it always killed me that it was never asked how a story would impact someone’s family. Everyone reported upon was someone’s father, mother, daughter, or son. It was never questioned how a report might cause harm — or good — to the family.

It is easy to forget that Steve Jobs is also a husband and dad.

And maybe…just maybe…after conquering the world, being hailed as a genius, and revolutionizing business around the planet…he just wants to savor life.

If that is the case, he is reminding us of something infinitely more important than how to run a business.

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