NetApp Awarded #1 Best Company to Work For 2009 by Fortune

NetApp Awarded #1 Best Company to Work For 2009 by Fortune

"Readers will gain insight into management styles, different ways to make decisions, alternative approaches to managing people, and the value of dissent within a company. They also will learn why it is better to castrate a bull with a dull knife than a sharp knife. And they may get a few chuckles along the way."—ByteandSwitch.com, January 27, 2009

"Hitz spends much of the book discussing what happened after he moved to move Silicon Valley in 1986 and began working at a series of start-ups, and the various business problems he faced and how he approached them. Hitz describes in detail the evolution of NetApp and, of course, does not omit the vendor's sales pitch. But at various points in the 200-page book Hitz takes a break from talking business to focus on some of the humorous passages referenced in Chapter Zero." —NetworkWorld.com, January 21, 2009

NetApp Awarded #1 Best Company to Work For 2009 by Fortune

Product Description

Dave Hitz likes to solve fun problems. He didn’t set out to be a Silicon Valley icon, a business visionary, or even a billionaire. But he became all three. It turns out that business is a mosaic of interesting puzzles like managing risk, developing and reversing strategies, and looking into the future by deconstructing the past.

As a founder of NetApp, a data storage firm that began as an idea scribbled on a placemat and now takes in $4 billion a year, Hitz has seen his company go through every major cycle in business—from the Jack-of-All-Trades mentality of a start-up, through the tumultuous period of the IPO and the dot-com bust, and finally to a mature enterprise company. NetApp is one of the fastest-growing computer companies ever, and for six years in a row it has been on Fortune magazine’s list of Best Companies to Work For. Not bad for a high school dropout who began his business career selling his blood for money and typing the names of diseases onto index cards.

With colorful examples and anecdotes, How to Castrate a Bull is a story for everyone interested in understanding business, the reasons why companies succeed and fail, and how powerful lessons often come from strange and unexpected places.

Dave Hitz co-founded NetApp in 1992 with James Lau and Michael Malcolm. He served as a programmer, marketing evangelist, technical architect, and vice president of engineering. Presently, he is responsible for future strategy and direction for the company. Before his career in Silicon Valley, Dave worked as a cowboy, where he got valuable management experience by herding, branding, and castrating cattle.

NetApp公司創始人兼執行副總裁 Dave Hitz 於近日齣版其所著的新書《庖丁解牛：妙解企業風險、成長和生存之道》（《How to Castrate a Bull: Unexpected Lessons on Risk, Growth, and Survival》）（Jossey-Bass 齣版社；精裝；2009 年 1 月）。該書講述瞭 NetApp 從創立、融資，到在商海裏拼搏，並最終獲得成功，為全球的客戶提供領先的存儲和數據管理解決方案的傳奇經曆。

登陸 www.howtocastrateabull.com 瞭解更多該書的信息，也可訪問 Hitz 的博客，或加入 NetApp 論壇與 Hitz 及其他讀者進行交流。

Hitz 錶示："從某種意義上說，我是同 NetApp 共同成長的。這段美好的旅程讓我擁有瞭一份珍貴的經曆。我親身參與瞭風險資本融資和管理層變革，也曆經瞭公司的高速增長期和上市，接著受到韆禧年金融危機的影響，通過戰略性扭轉，使公司得以恢復。《庖丁解牛》闡述瞭 NetApp 卓越的企業文化和工作環境。這正是使 NetApp成為最成功的技術公司之一的根本所在。"

《庖丁解牛》以豐富有趣的事例和小故事，嚮每一位對商業感興趣的讀者揭示瞭企業成敗的原因，以及如何在課堂以外的地方（甚至在廣闊的牧場上）學到受益匪淺的知識。1992 年，Hitz 同 James Lau （現任 NetApp 執行副總裁兼首席戰略官）與 Michael Malcolm 共同創立瞭 NetApp。在開始矽榖的職業生涯前，Hitz 是一個放牛娃。在養牛放牛等牧場工作中，Hitz 積纍瞭寶貴的管理經驗。Hitz 不甘平庸，後在普林斯頓大學獲得計算機學士學位。但是，那些幫助他使NetApp 成為業界領先者的技能和策略卻是在牧場那樣課堂以外的地方領悟到的。

該書包含瞭許多商業課程，如下為部分內容：

* 一位矽榖的企業領導者好比領導整個牛群的頭牛；

* 為什麼發現錯誤後改變策略比最開始就諸事正確更重要；

* 當風險投資成為産品齣貨的必要方式時，為什麼會讓人歡喜讓人憂；

* 如何在現今低迷的市場環境中運用高明的策略壯大企業。