From Goals to Puzzles: How Questions Outperform OKRs in Real Teams! | Radhika Dutt #60

"We vote with our labor for the world we want to create. If you don't reflect on what you're doing, how do you know you're casting the right vote?" - Radhika Dutt In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward engages entrepreneur and author Radhika Dutt in a profound exploration of how questions can transform organizations from goal-driven to puzzle-solving entities. Radhika is the author of "Radical Product Thinking" and shares her journey from MIT to becoming a serial entrepreneur to developing the puzzle-based leadership OHLA framework (Objectives, Hypotheses, Learnings, Adaptations). The conversation reveals how traditional goal-setting, rooted in 1940s assembly-line thinking, fails in today's complex environment, where creative problem-solving matters more than repetitive execution. Radhika demonstrates through a live experiment how "puzzles" energize while "goals" burden, explaining that puzzles tap into internal motivation rather than external pressure. She emphasizes the critical importance of reflection, a practice she credits with enabling better decision-making both personally and professionally. Drawing from her nine languages and global experience, including living in post-apartheid South Africa, Radhika offers insights on creating psychological safety for questions across cultures. The episode culminates with practical guidance on implementing puzzle-based thinking in organizations, showing how asking better questions leads to ownership, engagement, and transformative results. Be sure to check out the weekly Curated Questions Dispatch newsletter for more fun with questions and curiosity! (https://substack.com/@curatedquestions) This Curated Questions episode can be found on all major platforms and at CuratedQuestions.com. Keep questioning! Resources Mentioned Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter by Radhika Dutt Lobby Seven MIT Avid Technology Monetary Authority of Singapore ChatGPT Sam Altman Gates Foundation What has the Gates Foundation done for Global Health? Muhammad Yunus Microloans Esther Duflo Abhijit Banerjee Frank Blake Adobe Apple Only The Paranoid Survive David Eagleman  Management by Objectives detailed in The Practice of Management by Peter Drucker General Motors Lean Startup Adidas Bryn Mawr College Monument Lab Albert Einstein Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller OHLA Framework Toolkit (Objectives, Hypotheses, Learnings, Adaptations) Radhika Dutt on LinkedIn RadicalProduct.com Producer Ben Ford Beauty Pill