Afonso Malo Franco: When the Past Pushes Back: Rethinking Goals to Unlock Real Transformation
Most product transformations don’t fail because of the wrong framework. They fail because of the wrong assumptions about how people and organizations actually behave. And nowhere does this become more visible than in how we set goals and measure progress.
Objectives become wordsmithing exercises. Measurable outcomes are hard to articulate. Metrics drift toward outputs. Alignment turns into theatre. Despite the books, articles, podcasts, and talks, goal-setting remains a persistent struggle — especially in established organizations with deep-rooted ways of working.
Isn’t that interesting?
Some blame techniques like OKRs. Others blame the people for not doing it “right.”
Both miss the point.
Goal-setting challenges are rarely about the framework. They are symptoms of something deeper: how decisions are made, how progress is understood, how risk is handled, and how much an organization is truly willing to change.
Because transformation is not about installing a new operating model.
It’s about changing how people think about direction, progress, and success — especially when the past has worked for a long time.
Drawing on lessons from leading a product operating model transformation at Laerdal Medical across 70+ cross-functional product teams — and from working with many more teams and leaders across multiple organizations — Afonso Franco shares how goal-setting struggles can reveal where transformation is truly stuck, and what it takes to move forward.
This talk explores why teams default to outputs instead of outcomes, why rigid goal setting techniques often reinforce old behaviors, and how stronger vision, context, and KPI-driven thinking can help organizations focus on real progress.