A confession: I have been ego-googling to see what people are saying about my book. It feels odd to type castrate “dave hitz” into the search box. Even more disconcerting is that Google shows 40,500 web pages in apparent support of the idea.
My favorite article so far—perhaps because of the headline—is this one: Bull castration, snake eaters, opium and a whorehouse: the life of storage guru Dave Hitz. It’s like the author went through the whole book and pulled out the seamy bits. For the record, there is also serious stuff in the book about NetApp, management, and business.
My favorite comment was in response to a digg:
Like all the men of Babylon, I have been proconsul; like all, I have been a slave. I have known omnipotence, ignominy, imprisonment. Look here—my right hand has no index finger. Look here—through this gash in my cape you can see on my stomach a crimson tattoo—it is the second letter, Beth. On nights when the moon is full, this symbol gives me power over men with the mark of Gimel, but it subjects me to those with the Aleph, who on nights when there is no moon owe obedience to those marked with the Gimel.
In the half-light of dawn, in a cellar, standing before a black altar, I have slit the throats of sacred bulls. In a chamber of brass, as I faced the strangler's silent scarf, hope did not abandon me; in the river of delights, panic has not failed me.
I naively thought it was a compliment that my intro reminded someone of an awesome Borges story, The Lottery, but then he followed up with this explanation:
I couldn't resist pasting the 'Lottery' excerpt, to show the billionaire guy that his life experiences weren't as unique and, well, snowflake-like, as he thought. :) Anyone who isn't humbled by Borges is either an idiot or a god.
Between idiot and god, I know I must accept idiot, but still this is my favorite comment because it introduced me to a great story. (It’s true that I made a billion dollars, on paper, at the peak of the dot-com boom, but I also lost a billion dollars shortly after, so his description of me is, alas, not accurate.)
I am tempted to post some feedback. I have been an ardent admirer of the company and a lot of its people! When NetApp started in India, I even interviewed for a job and was selected. However, due to some constraints I did not join. I still follow up on the company through a few of your blogs and some of my friends who work there.
I desperately wanted to read each and every chapter of your book as soon as it was out. Unfortunately, it isn't available in India yet.
Thankfully, due to some unplanned event, I had to plan a quick trip to my HQ in Cupertino last week. Believe me, one of my biggest motivations of making this trip was to get hold of the book! :)
I landed here on 24th and right that evening headed to Borders at El Camino/Mathilda. Went to look for the book right away. I checked in the store information system, it said `not in stock, arriving soon, book on the front desk' or something to that effect. I was disappointed, but still decided to look around the shelves! Guess what, I saw 2 copies under `Leadership':) Got it home and read it cover to cover on that night! Remember, I was severely jetlagged!
Sorry for the long story, just wanted to let you know how much you and your company inspires some people!
On the book, I really expected some more details on other interesting things in the company, the pen area, other cool stuff you do, the engineering culture etc etc. I know it is a business book, but the biggest thing about NetApp is its engineering culture!
Posted by: Suman Saraf | February 03, 2009 at 07:02 PM
Suman, I totally agree, but I've been resisting the temptation to read through the whole book in one gulp. It's like the last bit of chocolate that you try to make last forever. And, Dave, we know you're no idiot so that only leaves one other option LOL! :-)
Posted by: Dave Lightman | February 04, 2009 at 10:31 AM
As of yesterday, Dave is working on a sequel called "How to Castrate Employee Morale: Putting Hundreds of People on the Chopping Block Right After Cheating Your Way to #1 on Fortune's 'Best Places to Work' List." Yeah, the title is wordy. So's Dave.
[I'm sorry. --Dave]
Posted by: Ex-NetAppian | February 10, 2009 at 01:16 PM
I just this minute finished Castrate a Bull. I can't believe you did that...(vodka, cran & Dr. P that is!). You got me thinking about magic. Perhaps it's not magic at all but as Earl Nightingale posits, "we become what we think about." In pondering your next 'future perfect' scenario I'm left wondering what you're currently thinking about. So I dug out this analysis of a slide you put up in NYC last year at the analysts meeting. Looking for clues before the sequel. :-)) Congrats on the book-- it was really enjoyable.
http://wikibon.org/?c=wiki&m=v&title=NetApp\%27s_silo_buster_vision_of_the_future
Posted by: David Vellante | February 19, 2009 at 04:08 AM
Shirley Jackson also wrote a famous horror story called "The Lottery."
Posted by: Patrick | February 23, 2009 at 02:20 PM
Just finished the book and sat back and smiled. Lots of interesting tidbits and valuable looks at how management structures must change if the entity is to survive. Having worked in companies that had "Mainframe Management in an Internet world" it was actually exciting to see how Net App predicted or reacted to market changes.
I was intrigued by the title. Not because of my warped sense of humor, but because of time I spent on my Grandfather's farm where part of the summer's chores was de-horning, vaccinating and castrating the latest crop of calves from his 300 head herd.
Great book. Easy read. I will recommend it to all my friends who survived the Dot Com era.
Posted by: Brion Miller | March 25, 2009 at 02:59 PM