FOREWORD

Larry Page
Alphabet CEO and Google Cofounder

I wish I had had this book nineteen years ago, when we founded Google. Or even before that, when I was only managing myself! As much as I hate process, good ideas with great execution are how you make magic. And that’s where OKRs come in.

John Doerr showed up one day in 1999 and delivered a lecture to us on objectives and key results, and how we should run the company based on his experience at Intel. We knew Intel was run well, and John’s talk made a lot of intuitive sense, so we decided we’d give it a try. I think it’s worked out pretty well for us.

OKRs are a simple process that helps drive varied organizations forward. We have adapted how we use it over the years. Take it as a blueprint and make it yours, based on what you want to see happen!

For leaders, OKRs give a lot of visibility into an organization. They also provide a productive way to push back. For example, you might ask: “Why can’t users load a video on YouTube almost instantly? Isn’t that more important than this other goal you’re planning to do next quarter?”

I’m glad to join in celebrating the memory of Bill Campbell, which John has done very nicely at the conclusion of the book. Bill was a fantastically warm human being who had the gift of almost always being right—especially about people. He was not afraid to tell anyone about how “full of shit” they were, and somehow they would still like him even after that. I miss Bill’s weekly haranguing very much. May everyone have a Bill Campbell in their lives—or even strive to make themselves be a bit more like the Coach!

I don’t write a lot of forewords. But I agreed to do this one because John gave Google a tremendous gift all those years ago. OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth, many times over. They’ve helped make our crazily bold mission of “organizing the world’s information” perhaps even achievable. They’ve kept me and the rest of the company on time and on track when it mattered the most. And I wanted to make sure people heard that.