There's no such thing as a typical afternoon for Brooks, who says one of his biggest challenges is switching between wildly different tasks. One minute, he may be dealing with a low-level problem such as a decision about whether a particular employee should get a laptop, and the next minute, he's talking to a company vice president or president about how systems can help the company's sales programs. And then he may have to deal with an employee's personal health situation.

"That's the real challenge -- being able to change gears all the time," he says.

Night shift

Brooks says he tries not to deal with vendors or the press during the regular workday because that can become a distraction. Instead, he tries to set aside some time on Fridays to deal with external matters, he says.

"I'm focused on delivering what we've committed to. We've been really, really busy the past two or three years, so my day is pretty full," says Brooks, who turns out the light and heads for home sometime between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., most likely doing some more strategic thinking on the way.