Eliminate Uncertainty, One Email at a Time

The moment I realized OKRs aren't just for year-end goals was the moment I sent my company into hyperdrive

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At some point, every business leader has a realization: Things aren't getting done, and you're the problem. While this has happened many times in small ways over the course of running my health care staffing marketplace, Actriv Healthcare, one stands out.

A few years ago, I asked my assistant to research information I needed for an important client meeting the next day. "Yeah, just get it to me by midday," I had said, or words to that effect.

When you're running a startup, things are moving so quickly it can be hard to slow your messaging-and communicate precisely. But the next day, when my assistant brought the information to me at 12:15 p.m.-well, I had actually needed it before noon. A small difference? Sure. But I'd wanted to showcase key data points about how my company had delivered for the client. Instead, I ended up having to wing it. We didn't lose the client, but I knew we could have done better.

Around that time, I read a book called