How to Castrate a Bull

Dave Hitz likes to solve fun problems. He didn't set out tobe a Silicon Valley icon, a business visionary, or even abillionaire. But he became all three. It turns out that business isa mosaic of interesting puzzles like managing risk, developing andreversing strategies, and looking into the future by deconstructingthe past.
As a founder of NetApp, a data storage firm that began as anidea scribbled on a placemat and now takes in $4 billion a year,Hitz has seen his company go through every major cycle inbusiness--from the Jack-of-All-Trades mentality of a start-up,through the tumultuous period of the IPO and the dot-com bust, andfinally to a mature enterprise company. NetApp is one of thefastest-growing computer companies ever, and for six years in a rowit has been on Fortune magazine's list of BestCompanies to Work For. Not bad for a high school dropout who beganhis business career selling his blood for money and typing thenames of diseases onto index cards.
With colorful examples and anecdotes, How to Castrate aBull is a story for everyone interested in understandingbusiness, the reasons why companies succeed and fail, and howpowerful lessons often come from strange and unexpected places.
Dave Hitz co-founded NetApp in 1992 with James Lau and MichaelMalcolm. He served as a programmer, marketing evangelist, technicalarchitect, and vice president of engineering. Presently, he isresponsible for future strategy and direction for the company.Before his career in Silicon Valley, Dave worked as a cowboy, wherehe got valuable management experience by herding, branding, andcastrating cattle.