He does have to put in an appearance every now and then. There are people who are important enough to broker deals with face-to-face, and they get so difficult when they think he's being disrespectful.

And yes, of course, there are the other "personal touch" obligations, too. Those are usually a little more fun.

"Most of it's obfuscation," he says. "A little web of legal businesses to keep the boring parts of the government happy. The rest of it's the kind of paperwork that doesn't go on paper and doesn't stick around for very long."