Campbell on Jobs: "There is not a thing he does that is not perfect."

Chairman and former CEO, Intuit, Bill Campbell (and current Apple board member)  had some awfully kind works for Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

He spoke at a conference this week where he discussed the nature of innovation, business management and made a few candid statements concerning Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.

A quick background – before his time at Intuit, Campbell was president and chief executive officer of GO Corp., a pen-based computing software company. Previously, he founded and served as president and chief executive officer of Claris, which was purchased by Apple in 1990.

Before starting Claris, Campbell was Apple’s executive vice president, group executive of the United States. He joined Apple in July 1983 as vice president of marketing and added the title of vice president of sales in January 1984. In September 1984, his duties were expanded to include distribution, service and support when he was promoted to executive vice president. In June 1985, Campbell was named group executive of the United States.

Campbell joined Apple from Eastman Kodak Co. where his last assignment was general manager of consumer products for Kodak Europe. Prior to joining Kodak, he was vice president of J. Walter Thompson, a New York-based advertising agency.

And now? Now a renowned Silicon Valley management advisor, Campbell remains a friend of Jobs, on whom he says: “He has personal idiosyncrasies …. But there is not a thing he does that is not perfect. He won’t do it if he can’t manage it. He cares about every pixel on the screen and surrounds himself at Apple with people that believe the way he does.”

Speaking to an audience of tech investors and start-up chiefs, Campbell counseled against confusing charisma for leadership, and advised fast growth against immediate returns.

In a statement that pretty well reflects the burgeoning nature of innovation at Apple, he observed: “Without great products you’re never going to be a great company.”

Now if Intuit would only bring Quickbooks for Mac up to the Windows version.

You can even watch what Campbell had to say in a video feed which you’ll find right here. (Cheers Fabio).

More here.