What does it take to transform a tens-of-thousands-employee enterprise like Bayer? In this Outcome Economy episode, Michele Zanini explains why the status quo is indefensible, why agile and OKRs fail without systemic change, and how outcome-based organizations align strategy, resource allocation, and local autonomy. Recorded at the Peter Drucker Forum, the conversation dives into front-runner teams, capabilities, perseverance in downturns, and why boards underestimate the risk of doing nothing.

Bruno Bonando is Director of Customer Relations and Sales at REWE Digital, the digital organization of REWE Group - one of Europe’s largest retail and tourism enterprises, with brands like REWE, Penny, Toom, Lekkerland, and ITS Travel. Bruno, former Vice President of Technology at MediaMarkt Saturn and Head of Engineering at Cazoo, originally comes from Brazil, but has been working in Europe for many years.

In this episode of the Outcome Economy Podcast Bruno and Johannes speak about

Bruno’s reading and podcast recommendations

How to connect with Bruno

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brunobonando/

"Business model transformation requires new operating models, metrics and ways of working.”

After spending several years at McKinsey, this episode’s guest Dr. Manuel Braun joined Systemiq, a think tank and consultancy for the circular economy and for sustainable business transformation. Manuel is a lecturer at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and an author who just published his book „The Circular Business Revolution“ in July 2024.

In this episode of the Outcome Economy Podcast Manuel and Johannes speak about:

Mentioned sources and recommendations

How to connect with Manuel

Stefan Kühl ist Soziologe, Historiker und Professor für Organisationssoziologie an der Universität Bielefeld. Er betreibt Forschung, unter anderem zu dezentralisierten Organisationsformen, sowie Steuerung und Strategie und er ist Autor zahlreicher Bestseller wie ,,Sisyphus im Management" und wissenschaftlicher Papiere wie „Strategy is Structure“. Immer wieder tritt Stefan auch auch in den Medien auf, so wurde er zum Beispiel im Handelsblatt zitiert: „In ein, zwei Jahren wird kaum noch jemand über Purpose sprechen“. Neben alledem arbeitet Stefan Kühl aber auch aktiv als Berater mit Organisationen zusammen, wo er nach wie vor mehr als ein Drittel seiner Zeit investiert.

Stefan steht für einen systemischen, wissenschaftlichen Blick auf Organisation und Management, setzt diese Perspektive und die damit verbundenen Werkzeuge aber eben auch intensiv in der Praxis ein.

Im Outcome Economy Podcast sprachen Stefan und Johannes über:

Erwähnte Personen und Quellen in der Folge

Stefans Lese- und Hör-Empfehlungen:

⁠Stefan's LinkedIn Profil
⁠Stefan's Profil von der Universität Bielefeld⁠

Johannes' LinkedIn Profil

Join Johannes in a captivating conversation with Christopher Freese, a senior partner at BCG, on AI's impact on corporate strategy and the insurance industry in 2024. They discuss corporate AI goals, day-to-day AI use, differences in AI adoption between the US and Europe, and investment pitfalls. The episode also explores AI's role in insurance operations like underwriting and claims, future industry shifts, and the importance of outcome-focused customer experiences.

Guest: Christopher Freese, Senior Partner and Managing Director at BCG.

Background reading and resources:

Christopher's LinkedIn Profile: ⁠Christopher Freese on LinkedIn⁠

Expert Profile at BCG: ⁠Christopher Freese at BCG⁠

Book Recommendations:

Webinar: ⁠“The Role of AI in Strategy and Execution” with Workpath Co-founders Pascal and Johannes

Inside Outcomes is the hands-on format for the strategy execution community. Learn from practitioners that bring the Outcome Economy to live in their organizations.

"So is it a culture where conflicts are avoided or where hierarchy solves conflicts? Because, hierarchy is always right and other people have to accept that? Or is it a culture where conflicts are seen as a creative source, as a source of creativity, of discussion, different viewpoints and people like to have dialogues about the best possible perspective? All that together, often unseen, is what social dynamics are about. Modern leadership has to understand and know about the social dynamics and all this unconscious bias in groups if you really want to become successful." - Sebastian Morgner, MLI.

With today’s guest Sebastian Morgner we talk about neurosocial leadership, giving insights into what neurosocial leadership actually is and why it is important - especially right now in this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) environment. He also shares how leaders should approach this topic by taking into consideration the different personalities, communication styles and experience of each team member.

We also dicuss how social dynamics connect to outcome-based thinking and OKRs. According to Sebastian, having a tangible and inspiring vision in a company with clear goals and responsibilities is one part of successful strategy implementation. The other part, however, is taking the time and space to actually reflect and discuss whether the team is on the right way, what the obstacles are and what they have learned in the past weeks or months. This is only possible if there’s psychological safety in the team, where responsibilities are clearly distributed and where the management team is open for feedback.

Lastly, we touch on how enterprise leaders can use social dynamics to influence the shift of a company culture toward a more outcome-based thinking. The retrospective in the OKR process is mentioned to be a very valuable tool for leaders to achieve this but leaders also need to make sure that the politics and reporting lines in the organization don’t block cross-functional goals.

Sebastian Morgner is Managing Director of the MLI Leadership Institute in Munich. He advises leadership teams of global companies on digital transformation, coaches executives and accompanies them in strategy implementation in Leadership Sprints based on OKR logic. Sebastian is the author of the book "Expedition Future - how you can use chance to master uncertainty and complexity". He was a pioneer in digitalization and has built seven different business units during his career. He is a certified mental coach and keynote speaker (GSA).

Where to find Sebastian:

LinkedIn

MLI

Where to find Johannes:

LinkedIn

Resources mentioned on the show:

Books:

Expedition Zukunft -  Wie wir den zufall nutzen können, um Ungewissheit und Komplexität zu meistern

Antifragile

Things that gain from disorder

Thinking, fast and slow

Podcast:

New Leadership Podcast

Outcome Economy Summit Workshop:

How neuro-social leadership helps to implement OKRs effectively

This Podcast is a product by Workpath.

OKRs are a simple concept but incredibly powerful because what it does is, it starts to move an organization towards better agility, collaboration, more customer centricity, more humility…creating the kind of culture and ways of working that tend to be more successful today. - Jeff Gothelf

In today’s episode “OKRs and Outcomes: Tools for de-risking uncertainty” we talk with Jeff Gothelf about why are OKRs such a fundamental tool for all organizations facing uncertainty, how do you start “doing OKRs’ in huge enterprise to ensure the required culture change and finally, why OKRs are such a simple but challenging tool to implement successfully. 

Finally, we’re talking about Jeff’s upcoming book - which is an OKR employee handbook, a practical guide for everyone in an organization no matter the department they are in.

Jeff Gothelf helps organizations build better products and executives build the cultures that build better products. He is the co-author of the award-winning book Lean UX and the Harvard Business Review Press book Sense & Respond as well as the self-published Lean vs Agile vs Design Thinking and Forever Employable.

Where to find Jeff:

Website

Join Jeff’s new book’s waiting list: https://okr-book.com/

Where to find Johannes:

LinkedIn

Resources mentioned on the show:

Books:

Teresa Torres - Continuous Discovery Habits

Barry O’reilly -  Unlearn

Joshua Seiden -  Outcome vs Output: Why Customer Behavior is the Key Metric for Business Success

This Podcast is a product by Workpath.

Survival in the banking industry requires change. Currently, 70% of projects fail, making it evident that success lies not with big, renowned banks but with those that adapt swiftly to customer needs.

In today's episode, we therefore delve into the challenges faced by banks, including evolving regulations, emerging technologies, and the urgency for transformation. The primary strategic shift revolves around prioritizing the customer and comprehending their desires.

In addition, we touch on the radical changes banks need to undergo and how to make those change long-lastin, by ensuring that everyone comprehends the purpose and goals behind the transformation. By this, projects shift from 70% failure  to 70% success rates.

Furthermore, we explore how OKRs can enhance customer focus and their implementation in new product/service development within the banking industry and how finance leaders can successfully work with OKRs.

Dirk Feldrappe is Senior Project Manager at Projective Group with a demonstrated history of working in the management consulting industry. He is skilled in Digitization, Structured Commodity Finance,/Compliance, Financial Econometrics, Interest Rate Derivatives, Corporate Finance, and Economic Research. He is a strong consulting professional with a M.A. focused in International Business from Munich Business School. Prior to joining Projective, Dirk was Manager at BearingPoint.
John Parker is a qualified chartered accountant with a mixture of experience in consultancy for Accenture (9 years), in-house project management with NatWest (8 years), and Projective Group since 2015. In the past he has supported CFOs on a variety of system, process and people change projects, but since joining Projective Group he has supported executives in all the departments and functions.

Where to find Dirk:

LinkedIn

Where to find John:

⁠LinkedIn⁠

ProjectiveGroup

Where to find Johannes:

LinkedIn

Resources mentioned on the show:

Books:

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

Achieving Transformation and Renewal in Financial Services by Rohit Talwar

Transforming Financial Institutions : Value Creation through Technology Innovation and Operational change by Joerg Ruetschi

The Happiness Trap 2nd Edition: Stop Struggling, Start Living by Russ Harris

Podcast:

Digital Planet by BBC World Service

This Podcast is a product by Workpath.

Welcome to our new series AMA on OKRs, this time with our CE team lead Alessia Fadda. Over the course of several videos we’ll try to:

In this first episode, Alessia answers the following questions:

1 - How long should an OKR cycle be?
2 - What is the difference between KPIs and OKRs?
3 - Why can’t I just break down a project’s milestones into Key Results?
4 - How do we synchronize the project, sprint and OKR rhythms?
5 - We have many different strategic artifacts. How do they affect the company's OKRs?

Do you have a burning OKR question? If yes, add it here in the comments or use the form below: https://workpath.typeform.com/to/xxEuJDqC?typeform-source=workpathhq.atlassian.net

This Podcast is a product by Workpath.