1. Monkeys should be fed or shot. Letting them starve to death will only waste more time on post-mortems or attempted resurrections.

This means that issues brough to you by your subordinates should be taken seriously, and together you must decide if you will do something about it - or not. 

• Feeding the Monkey means that this issue will be treated in some way. 
• Shooting the Monkey means that together you will decide to kill the issue, and not pursue it. 

This first rule is very important, because many things brought to you should not get done. By clearly making this decision and communicating this you have less things to focus on, and anybody depending on this decision can now continue because they are not waiting.