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One of FinancialForce CFO Gordy Brooks\u2019 most valuable early career-building experiences began by butting heads with his CEO. The chief executive insisted on issuing sales commissions on a weekly basis \u2013 an ask that would have most finance chiefs pulling their hair out. \xa0After the CEO stuck to his guns in the face of counterarguments, Brooks spent two weeks carefully unpacking the problem behind his CEO\u2019s requested outcome. He discovered that the root cause of the request involved ineffective operational processes (sales territory assignments and compensation plan design) and inefficient comp and payroll processes. When Brooks presented those findings with a significant process improvement proposal, the CEO embraced his systemic solution. \u201cThe CFO role is not only about metrics and business models,\u201d Brooks notes. \u201cIt\u2019s also about the human touch.\u201d \xa0Brooks \u2013 who possesses two decades of finance executive experience with VMWare, BEA Systems, Citrix, Microsoft and other notables \u2013 shares his takes on current comp challenges, the importance of early \xa0public-company experience, and the high career returns on international assignments.