Question
The TED family initially perceived the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) framework as too corporate, which conflicted with TED's freethinking ethos. They found it challenging to make OKRs inspirational and align them with their culture. The head of TED, Chris Anderson, suggested an alternative approach called OMGs (Objectives and Measurable Goals). However, the challenge was not just about setting metrics, but also about ensuring that the goals were ambitious and that falling short of an objective was acceptable as long as the goal was ambitious.
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Objective – at the time, OKRs were perceived by the TED family as corporate and it was challenging to align them with the freethinking ethos of TED. To make it undeniably inspirational, OKRs needed to be "TEDified," Kuo tells What Matters organization, founded by John Doerr. The head of TED, Chris Anderson, recommended OMGs – Objectives and Measurable Goals, which Kuo defined as: "I will , as measured by ." Then, Kuo took the challenge to the next level and resolved it by putting to work a classic French novella, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, as a way of introducing OKRs to the team Key result –using Saint-Exupéry's book, Kuo explained that the idea behind OMGs was not to set metrics and slavishly adhere to them, and that to fall short of an objective was ok as long as the goal was ambitious. "It's not about hitting numbers but about dreaming big," Kuo told the team.
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