In 2017, I found myself living out of hotels for half the year, journeying across cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Why?

I was deeply engaged with executives, team leads, and individual contributors, ensuring their OKR programs were not just in place, but effectively driving their strategic execution. They absolutely HATED OKRs.

The problem was, these organizations were trying to implement a framework that was originally intended for big tech. What they needed was a program that was tailored to their industry and operations.

These interactions profoundly shaped the way I thought about OKR implementation.

Fast forward to today. My company, Wave Nine, approaches OKRs with a blend of optimism and pragmatism, prioritizing tangible results over blind adherence to the ancient OKR scrolls. Implementation of a 50-year-old Silicon Valley framework doesn't guarantee success for an organization. At Wave Nine, we're pioneering large-scale OKR rollouts tailored for the demands of complex organizations in diverse industries.