Sierra's ASCEND podcast explores excellence at scale. In this episode, Anne talks to Vetri Vellore.
Vetri is an accomplished entrepreneur with two exits to date. His most recent exit was in 2021 when Microsoft acquired Ally.io, and he became corporate vice president in building Microsoft's Viva Goals.
Before his work with Ally, Vetri co-founded Chronus, which was later acquired by private equity. In addition to being a founder, Vetri is the author of "OKRs for All," a book that received endorsement from leaders like Microsoft's Satya Nadella. He is one of the most passionate entrepreneurs and leaders, and his passion for building comes through in this interview.
Top takeaways:
- Importance of a morning routine: Vetri describes the importance of habits from journalling to daily affirmations.“It’s like an anchor for my day.”
- Having a vision for the future: Vetri goes into how he began reading Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life by Shakti Gawain. While reading the book, he began writing down things he envisioned for himself in the coming years, including finding a better balance between work and family and building successful businesses.
- Stretch goals and celebrating small wins: Stretch goals are important for an early-stage startup, but if they are truly stretched, then you will not always hit them. That is ok, and to keep morale high, it is important to celebrate wins, small or big…It’s a bit like the gratitude exercise.
- Create OKRs and priorities: The OKR model is about aligning priorities over the entire organization. When done correctly, it can increase efficiency and scale.
- Get the team involved: Sometimes, establishing OKRs can be seen as a very “top-down process,” and it is important to break down objectives and key results with people from different levels of the organization involved.
- Break down your goals: Goals themselves don’t have to be abstract; even lofty goals can become more reasonable when looking at the specific steps it takes to achieve any particular goal or objective.
- Weave habits, OKRs, and Rhythms into the fabric of the company: Vetri asserts that OKRs cannot simply stand on their own; there has to be a connection between defining OKRs and the internal habits of a company.
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ASCEND Podcast: Vetri Vellore on Mastering OKRs and Building Routine Success
- Summary
- Transcript
Stretch goals and celebrating small wins: Stretch goals are important for an early-stage startup, but if they are truly stretched, you will not always hit them. That is ok, and to keep morale high, it is important to celebrate wins, small or big…It’s a bit like the gratitude exercise.
Weave habits, OKRs, and Rhythms into the fabric of the company: Vetri asserts that OKRs cannot simply stand on their own; there has to be a connection between defining OKRs and the internal habits of a company.
Sierra's ASCEND podcast explores excellence at scale. In this episode, Anne talks to Vetri Vellore.
Vetri is an accomplished entrepreneur with two exits to date. His most recent exit was in 2021 when Microsoft acquired Ally.io, and he became corporate vice president in charge of building Microsoft's Viva Goals.
Before his work with Ally, Vetri co-founded Chronus, later acquired by private equity. In addition to being a founder, Vetri is the author of "OKRs for All," a book that received endorsement from leaders like Microsoft's Satya Nadella. He is one of the most passionate entrepreneurs and leaders, and his passion for building really comes through in this interview.