Three Snake Rule
James Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape, was described in U.S. News & World Report as a Silicon Valley outsider. His is from Mississippi, not an engineer, and the product of the highly stratified, shirt-and-tie sales side of IBM. One of Mr. Barksdale’s maxims that endeared him to his employees was formulated at a management retreat soon after he took charge.
It is known as the THREE SNAKE RULE:
The first rule: If you see a snake, kill a snake. Don’t set up a snake committee, don’t form a snake team, don’t get a meeting together, just kill the snake.
The second rule: Don’t play with dead snakes. Don’t waste time on decisions that have already been made.
The paradoxical third rule: All opportunities start out looking like snakes.
