I was working with Art Glasgow, who came on board in the spring of 2016 as our president and COO. The two of us agreed there was no point to OKRs unless we went all the way. Art volunteered to be executive sponsor, our goal-setting shepherd. He stood up in front of an all-hands meeting and said, “OKRs are how we’re going to run the company, and we’re going to use them to measure your bosses.” (That was the carrot that balanced the stick.) Art’s role in the crusade cannot be overestimated. He set the tone for what he calls “brutal transparency without judgment.” And he made my job less lonely.
