Good subject, great post.
I've said this before, and I'm pretty sure I know what it means about us and what we do. I would have to say that we aspire to be the 'high end' agla speaks of. While we aspire to that, for now I'd have to say that we are in the 'close but not quite' category.
Living in that domain while aspiring to more, I think there is a learning curve or development curve to get to that point. (At least I hope there is, because if you have to start there, I've already screwed up.) I've been trying to build a body of work, and at the same time working with the local media (not in advertising, BTW) to develop our reputation or place in our market.
Aspiring to those bigger and better things (and I realize I may be derailing the original gist of the thread), I recognize that many times it's the attention to the details that provides part of the separation. For that I'm trying to instill in my men that very thought - the difference between the good companies and the great companies is how we do (fill in the blank with the current task).
I also realize that being a good leader is a requirement. I've heard it said that you have to work like you don't need the money. When I think back on the moments in time when I was a really good leader, one that people would follow through fire, they were when I was totally relaxed about the job, or could really care less. Those were the times when I took a genuine interest in developing people (which is something I dearly enjoy, when I have the time), over hard-driving to complete tasks.
I continue to remind myself to do those things, and it's the pressure of the day-to-day that has me forgetting them, slipping into the hard-driving mode to get things moving. One of these days I'll get there.
And I think Paul hit the nail on the head awhile ago - kinda. He said to build the company large, you just have to decide to do it (ala Tony Robbins). I think that's right on, but I might tweak it to say that you have to commit to it. Just like you commit to laying all that sod the day it gets delivered, no matter what, you commit to developing your people, managing your company, at any cost.
Ok, I'm getting a little long winded here - Agla must've hit a hot button or something...