slash and burn

1. Lit. of a farming technique where vegetation is cut down and burned before crops are planted. (Hyphenated before nominals.) The small farmers' slash-and-burn technique destroyed thousands of acres of forest.

2. Fig. of a crude and brash way of doing something. (Hyphenated before nominals.) The new manager's method was strictly slash and burn. He looks decisive to his boss and merciless to the people he fires.