John Edwardson, Chairman and CEO / CDW

Edwardson, 56, keeps his collection of shields and helmets because, he says, it reminds him that while today&'s world is competitive, “it&'s not quite as fiercely competitive as the world was 500 years ago.”

CDW has been wielding its own sword. In the first half of 2005, CDW&'s earnings rose 13 percent to $128.5 million while sales were up 11 percent to $3.01 billion. The company&'s results might have been even better if the sharp increases in fuel prices, war in Iraq and devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina had not caused some uncertainty in the market.

"I would call this a good year, not a great year,” Edwardson says. “There's so much bad news in the newspaper, I think everyone is still a little tentative, and that is the way it is.”

Edwardson appears to be making inroads into attracting channel partners that want to turn over commodity product sales to CDW, via its Website, in exchange for a piece of the action. A recent event in Chicago promoting the company&'s SolutionEdge channel program attracted about 50 potential solution provider partners.

Edwardson is driven both in and out of the boardroom, but lately he&'s been looking for something more. His daughter recently gave him a copy of “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren to help him take a look at life beyond work.

“I&'m still working on what my new purpose should be,” Edwardson jests. “Maybe there is more to the meaning of life than growing earnings per share every year, but I don&'t know if my board of directors would agree with that or not.”

As long as he keeps delivering, CDW&'s board is not likely to object.