The OKR Podcast

This episode of the OKR Podcast was recorded live at Accelerate 2026, WorkBoard’s AI Strategy Execution Summit, where leaders from strategy execution, strategic planning, portfolio and program management, HR, and transformation came together to learn from and network with their peers.

In this session, Penny Beich, Senior Director of Strategy Execution at Navitus Healthcare, explains why AI won’t save your strategy, and what has to be in place first. She shares how Navitus moved from a project-led model to a capability-led one, what happened when connecting everything turned a wall of green into a wall of red, and how WorkBoard’s Strategic Portfolio Management platform is helping them make better decisions across a $275 million digital transformation.

Watch the recording of Penny's session.

Lisa Om of USDM Life Sciences shares where and how to start on the AI journey – and why you need to start now if you haven't. She talks about the rising importance of clarity, focus, alignment and iteration in the age of AI and why WorkBoardAI helps her achieve it.

Imagine everyone rating internal meetings as a 10 out of 10?  That's exactly what Pax8 has done using OKRs that clarify direction, the L10 meeting framework to structure and focus discussions, and WorkBoard to eliminate unnecessary meetings and follow through from the important ones.  It's simplified work and freed up the Pax8 global workforce; hear Strategic Initiatives Manager Rory Thompson's playbook in this podcast.

In this episode, Milan Červenka, Product Line Lead of Strategic Management at MSD, shares what it takes to modernize strategy execution across a 130-year-old, 75,000-person enterprise. He offers a candid look at the real costs of fragmented OKR practices across the organization, and how the pivotal shift to a single system with WorkBoard is enabling teams to execute the strategy with confidence and consistency. Milan outlines how standardized data, transparent outcomes, and streamlined operating rhythms are strengthening alignment, accelerating decision velocity, and enabling teams across continents to focus on the work that drives impact.

In this episode, Deidre sits down with AssetMark CEO Lou Maiuri to discuss the CEO as pace setter, setting ambitious goals, and adapting strategic priorities quickly in a hyper dynamic world.  Hear the role honest conversations have in accelerating results, how Lou uses WorkBoardAI himself, and how AI enables their team to reach higher.

In this episode recorded live at Accelerate 2025, AO Smith CEO Steve Shafer joins Deidre Paknad to discuss how leaders keep strategy moving when markets shift faster than traditional planning cycles. Steve shares how he connects long-range goals to quarterly OKRs and how WorkBoard supports his teams in staying aligned and focused. From adjusting priorities to using real-time execution insights, this conversation offers a practical look at keeping strategy current and actionable.

CEO and Co-founder Deidre Paknad and Sameera Moinpour, Global VP Customer Success & Services, give a debrief from WorkBoard's Fall Executive Advisory Board session with the CEOs of AO Smith and Aprimo, Chief Product Officer of DaVita, Chief Operations Officer of 8x8 and Chief People Officer of Q2 Inc.  They asked these execs for their success models, shared the failure patterns and got their advice on how to help more executives succeed at their strategy execution ambitions.

Recorded live at WorkBoard’s Accelerate 2025 conference, this episode covers how organizations have matured their approach to OKRs, strategy execution and the connection with individual performance over the past few years and what's changing next. With startling stats on AI use today and the pace of change, WorkBoard CEO and co-founder Deidre Paknad paints a vivid picture of how AI is radically improving strategy execution and how you can take full advantage of it.

Sam Wilson, CEO of 8x8, discusses strategy execution and why WorkBoard is essential to his success.  He shares how they thread long range strategy to current quarter strategic priorities and OKRs, to the operational meetings and 1on1s that move people and decisions forward.  For Sam, WorkBoard is to strategy+execution what Salesforce is to sales, Workday is to HR, and NetSuite is to finance – the essential system and foundation for driving transformational strategy achievement.

Deidre Paknad, CEO of WorkBoard, shares how the company runs its business using its own platform. She outlines the full operating rhythm—from long-range strategy and quarterly OKRs to weekly scorecards, leadership ‘deep thinks’, and cross-functional reviews. Hear how AI helps the team move faster, stay aligned, and focus on what matters most.