Are you planning to see the “Barbie” movie? The execs at Mattel are certainly counting on you to show up at the multiplex. And not just for Barbie – It’s just the first in a whole slate of films they have in development based on their vast catalog of intellectual property (IP). Look for a Hot Wheels flick in the not-too-distant future, followed by a He-Man epic and then movies based on pretty much everything they’ve ever molded from a piece of plastic. Mattel isn’t alone of course, Marvel, DC, and Lego have all made the leap to the big screen. It seems IP represents a never-ending treasure trove of filmic inspiration for big companies and movie studios alike.
All of this got me thinking, what’s next in the cinematic landscape? After a few minutes of frustration at my utter lack of creative genius, the proverbial lightning bolt hit me and I realized the answer was right in front of me, and has been for years – OKRs! Yes, why not make “OKRs – The Movie.” So hey, Hollywood bigwigs, if you’re searching for your next piece of IP to transform into Box Office gold, look no further than Objectives and Key Results.
Let’s do some brainstorming. Movies need to be topical, and what’s more topical right now than Artificial Intelligence (AI)? So let’s make the movie about OKRs and AI. How about this as a premise: What happens in a world in which all OKRs are created by AI, and for a time everything is wonderful until a mad genius devises a method to use his AI to overthrow markets and dominate the world. Let’s call it “Objective Overload.” Are you ready? Grab some popcorn and get comfy, here are the initial beats of our movie.
We begin by meeting our hero, Justin Axelrod, a mid-level analyst toiling away in anonymity at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he monitors large scale buying and selling of stock by companies and individuals. As a kid, Justin tested as genius but he hides his brilliance, pretty much doing the bare minimum to collect his bi-weekly pay. Why? Hmmm….we’ll find out.
Justin is monitoring the market as usual, talking with his colleague Zoey, and we learn that we’re in a world where all OKRs are now programmed by AI to help organizations focus on exactly what matters most in executing their unique strategy – the human element has been completely stripped out of the goal setting process. And it’s working perfectly, every company is able to extract the maximum value from its unique strategy and as a result profits are skyrocketing, the economy is growing, and the stock market is at an all-time high.
One day Justin notices something strange – a certain investment firm he’s never heard of, called “Inversus Investments,” has begun to take up short positions on some of the world’s biggest companies. In case you don’t know (and the actual movie will have some fun exposition on this), taking a short position on a stock means selling borrowed stocks with the expectation that their price will decrease, allowing the seller to buy them back at a lower price in the future and make a profit. Why would Inversus be betting against a “can’t miss” market?
Justin raises the anomaly with his superiors but they brush him off since the market is thriving, the President couldn’t be happier, and optimism abounds. They tell Justin not to ‘make waves,’ and stop looking for trouble where there is none to be found.
But Justin’s suspicions are piqued, and he digs into Inversus. It’s the corporate version of a mystery inside a riddle, wrapped around an enigma, but he finally discovers their technology is powering virtually all of the AI engines in the world – the very AI that is generating the OKRs powering the nation’s prosperity!
Through some 21st century digital wizardry combined with old school smarts it becomes clear to Justin that Inversus is about to change the AI programming so that OKRs will damage companies, their stock will plummet, the world will tilt towards a cataclysmic depression and only Inversus will be left standing – enriched and frighteningly powerful due to their short-selling positions.
Can Justin stop Inversus?
That’s it for now – a true cliffhanger.
Inspire Software is designed to teach and assist organizations, teams, and individuals to create and monitor smarter goals and better practices for themselves. Inspire integrates science-backed principles into their software to help individuals and teams coordinate and accomplish objectives more efficiently. Schedule a demo now to implement OKRs and SMART goals better into your organization.
See how we Inspire People and Performance at inspiresoftware.com.
