Giant Talk: The World‘s First OKR Podcast

Today, we're delighted to be joined by Ana Becker-Weinberg, Chief of Staff at Unbabel. Ana has worked as chief of staff and strategic advisor to businesses for over a decade, first in the professional service space and most recently in tech scale-ups. Ana works very closely with the CEO, but also sits on the leadership team at Unbabel and leads many cross-functional strategic projects including OKRs. Ana chats to host Carly about her experience of using OKRs, going from spreadsheets to a dedicated OKR tool and the benefits of using OKRs cross-functionally, especially when working in an organisation with teams spread across geographies. Enjoy the episode!

Today, we're delighted to be joined by Matt Tucker of Koan and Jared Wiener from Prosper Portland. Matt Tucker is CEO and Founder at Koan the OKR platform and Jared is Project Manager at Prosper Portland, a local company working to build an equitable economy in Portland.  In this episode we talk about diversity, equity and inclusivity, a topic that is rightly being talked about and addressed by more and more organisations, but is this simply being addressed at board level or are organisations considering equality across your goal framework?  Enjoy the episode!

Your podcast host Jenny has some exciting news to share with you all; she is expecting her first baby very soon which means she will be going on maternity leave. Jenny hands over the Giant Talk reins to Carly, who joined There Be Giants last month. Carly joins us now for a quick introduction before going live with her first podcast in September.

Today, we're delighted to be joined by Nikolaus Lang of Boston Consulting Group. Nikolaus has worked for BCG for nearly 25 years, he heads their Global Advantage practice & is Founder and Director of the Centre for Mobility Innovation. He also has a PhD in Business Administration, is an honorary professor at Gallen University, lecturing in ecosystems and specifically digital ecosystems and has co-written the book ‘Beyond Great - Nine Strategies for Thriving in an Era of Social Tension, Economic Nationalism, and Technological Revolution'  Nikolaus chats to host Jenny about the lessons that can be learnt from understanding both the global landscape and the regional picture for your organisation, especially when it comes to adapting to change, fluctuating consumer trends and fostering an agile workforce.  Enjoy the episode!

Today, Giant Talk host Jenny is joined by Arvind Radhakrishnen who has experience working with large fortune 50 banking and financial services firm. He joins us to discuss their implementation of OKRs, and especially how automation is aiding the process.   Enjoy the episode!     

Today, Giant Talk is delighted to have Dirk Schmellenkamp join us for a fascinating conversation.  Dirk is an OKR Coach with Flowy Team and he works with organisations to create high performing teams. German born but currently based in Malaysia, Dirk provides an insight into the business landscape in Asia and how implementing OKRs there can be a little different.  Enjoy the episode! 

Euvin Naidoo, speaking in his personal capacity Today (29th June 2021), Euvin Naidoo joins Giant Talk for a conversation with guest host Roger Longden. Euvin Naidoo has just been appointed the Distinguished Professor of Practice for Accounting, Risk and Agility at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, based in Phoenix Arizona in the USA. This coincides with the upcoming opening of Thunderbird’s new state of the art USD70m plus digital-first campus in downtown Phoenix that focuses on educating global leaders not only in terms of a management curriculum immersed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but within a physical and digital environment that aims to prepare participants to be at the forefront of management innovation. Prior to taking on his new role at Thunderbird in July 2021, Prof. Naidoo was a faculty member at the Harvard Business School in the Accounting and Management Unit, where he led the teaching of 2 sections (20%) of the Harvard Business School MBA class for the Financial Reporting and Control program, a core class for all MBA students. Prof. Naidoo’s focus is on making complex subjects accessible, exciting and engaging and to do this by basing teaching in both a core foundation of theory but also in practice. In 2021, he received the honour of attaining one of the highest teaching ratings (6.7/7 and 6.8/7), for his innovative teaching approaches with many of his students ranking accounting as one of their all-time favourite subjects. He is one of the leading thinkers in the development and application of agile and OKR principles to enterprise organisations in North America and piloted HBS's first short intensive program on agility called "From agile to OKRs", that aims to serve as a blueprint to leaders of large enterprises to drive the next step change in performance delivery. A financial services veteran from industry, having served on the senior leadership teams of several global financial services groups, Prof. Naidoo focuses on lessons in management drawn from practice. Most recently he has co-written and published a series of cases and powerful articles in the space of agility and innovation, partnering with some of the leading organizations in the world. With McKinsey, he examined how agile organisations outperform others in a crisis. At BCG, he looked at how non-digital incumbent leaders within the Fortune 500 can harness lessons from digital natives to increase the pace of innovation, drawing on their inherent strengths. He has long been a pioneer as both a practitioner, coach and C-Suite executive, including his opening speech at Ted Global more than a decade ago, per the invite of Ted Curator, Chris Anderson. Trendhunter has previously named Prof. Naidoo’s talk as one of the top 15 best business keynotes on investing alongside speeches by Warren Buffet, Kevin O’ Leary and Bill Ackman who are also on this list. Himself a graduate of the Harvard Business School, he was also selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, where he served 2 terms on the WEF’s United States Global Agenda Council. We are delighted to have him take time away from his busy schedule to share some of the latest thinking on agility, OKRs and future of management.

Giant Talk host Jenny is joined for today's episode by Folu Okunade of Hello Tractor.  Hello Tractor’s award-winning IoT platform helps farm equipment owners, dealers, banks, and farmers in need of services earn more. With the worlds largest farm equipment marketplace, they are unlocking value across the ecosystem.  Folu chats through why they chose OKRs, the benefits the framework has brought, the challenges the OKR implementation has created and some top tips for start ups who are considering OKRs.  A great discussion! 

Today, host Jenny is joined by Koan CEO Matt Tucker to chat all about the importance of purpose.  Are we seeing a shift in importance from the paycheque to purpose, especially for Gen Z. How can reflection, goals and ultimately OKRs help people drive a culture of purpose - we explore this in today's episode!  Enjoy! 

Today we bring you a special episode all about something new we're launching - The OKR Professionals' Community.  Georgia Parker joins host Jenny to chat through the community, the benefits and why as a user of OKRs, or a coach helping implement OKRs it's a great space to be.  Find out more - https://www.therebegiants.com/okr-professionals-community/ Keep your eyes peeled for the sign up link from the 1st July and a special discount for Giant Talk listeners.