From this story I take away:

- A Sr. Marketing staff member saw technical deficiencies in the project and pulled a _complete 180°_ literally days before showtime in front of a huge client, successfully.

- Jobs pushed his workers hard.. though the ends justify the means

- The NeXT computer pioneered nearly everything we take for granted today (mouse, networking, Objective C) in a package targeted at the high end consumer. Sound familiar?

Brilliant.

[edit: clarify meaning]