The Ancient Art of Snake Killing is a systematic approach to Problem Solving that was developed “in the weeds” with real problems, in real-time and with real money, and at times, with real lives at risk.
In 1984, I had responsibility for security operations for a private security company in Kansas City. Our client base included local businesses, national accounts such as AT&T, as well as contracts with local, state and federal government agencies. With over 200 security officers, many of whom were armed, it was a major task to maintain full compliance with contracted service hours. It was then that I first learned that a married employee had eight grandparents who can die, and often did so annually. It was my field staff’s responsible to insure every post was properly filled with an officer who was trained, held the appropriate commission and was properly armed as needed. If it went wrong between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m., and twenty-four hours on the weekends, it was their job to fix it.
After countless nights on the telephone with field supervisors, fixing “their” problems, I decided to find a problem solving training course for them so they could actually do their job without me at 2:30 a.m. That is when the real problems started. I could find seminars and training courses designed for owners and senior level management, with expensive price tags, but nothing was available for the frontline supervisors; I looked hard to find one. That was the beginning of the Snake Killing course on problem solving.
GM purchased Ross Perot’s leading edge technology company, EDS. Perot was given a seat on the GM board of directors as part of the purchase agreement. His innovative ideas and approaches to problem solving and empowerment had resulted in the success of EDS. Not too long after Perot joined the GM board, it was determined it would be best if Mr. Perot was no longer a member of that organization. When asked what the problem was at GM, under a contractual gag order, Perot explained that GM didn’t have any Snake Killers. You can find the full article in a fall 1978 issue of US News & World Reports as I recall.
Snake Killing evolved over the next twenty years, continually enhanced and improved based on real-life lessons learned. The first question asked of a playwright by a publisher is: Has it been performed? Snake Killing has been used successfully many times through the years, including within a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-national setting and… it works.
Snake Killing is designed to be effective, broadly applicable and easy to use… especially easy to use. Through experience, I already knew a tool, that was too difficult to master, would be left in the toolbox and solve no problems if it were not used.
So will Snake Killing solve all of your problems? No, that’s not the purpose. The purpose of Snake Killing is to equip you with a systematic approach so you can approach and solve you own problems. I was really listening when I first heard the lesson between giving a man a fish and teaching him how to fish.
I had done all the fishing I cared to do back in Kansas City!
