I've only seen this in large companies, not startups or software shops, but it was never a single layer of OKRs. It was a set at each management level.
The CEO would define the top-level OKRs. Their direct reports would ask themselves, "How can I contribute?", and build a more detail set of their organizations OKRs, that rolled up to support the CEOs. Every layer of management down the chain did the same. And the individual contributors set personal goals that supported their direct manager's OKRs.
No system is perfect, and this one had its annoyances. But it did tie everything from personal goals all the way up to the top-level corporate goals, which resolves many of the concerns from the article.
This hasn't been the case in my experience at a 200,000 person company. The OKR's I hear about are so far separated from what my teams work on, that it is impossible to even pretend our work relates to it.
The trick here is: what happens if the CEO is unwilling to pin herself down to specific goals, for any reason, but especially because she has no goals or is afraid to be seen failing those goals?
Either leadership doesnt engage with OKRs, tasks are deliberately misinterpreted as goals, or unmeasurable goals are set. The rest of the company's OKRs then follow this example, and everyone suffers.
The CEO would define the top-level OKRs. Their direct reports would ask themselves, "How can I contribute?", and build a more detail set of their organizations OKRs, that rolled up to support the CEOs. Every layer of management down the chain did the same. And the individual contributors set personal goals that supported their direct manager's OKRs.
No system is perfect, and this one had its annoyances. But it did tie everything from personal goals all the way up to the top-level corporate goals, which resolves many of the concerns from the article.