Nike’s $30B Secret? The Obeya Room

Nike Europe had a problem.

Too many moving parts.

Too much miscommunication.

Too many smart people rowing in different directions.

So they borrowed a tactic from lean manufacturing and elite sports:

Obeya Rooms.

The CIO loved it so much, he filmed a video and sent it company-wide.

It became Nike’s new operating system.

One room. Total alignment.

Here’s How Nike Did It:

In the realm of elite performance, whether on the football pitch or in the corporate arena, one principle stands out as a cornerstone of success:

Relentless role clarity.

When every team member knows their specific responsibilities and how they contribute to the collective objectives, the team operates with heightened cohesion, efficiency, and purpose.

This is how Nike achieved optimum clarity across their teams.

1. Nike made everything visible.

The walls of the Obeya room were covered with:

• Team goals

• Project timelines

• Role responsibilities

• Live updates on blockers

• Clear priorities

• Actual customer impact

No guessing. No hiding.

Just visual, brutal clarity.

Before Obeya:

• Departments operated in silos.

• No one knew what the others were doing.

• Delays, duplication, drama.

After Obeya:

• Cross-functional teams stood in the same room.

• Looked at the same data.

• Solved problems together in real time.

Result?

Faster launches. Fewer mistakes. Less firefighting.

2) Nike made role clarity non-negotiable.

Everyone knew:

• What they were responsible for

• Who owned what

• What success looked like

• What the blockers were

No more “I thought that was your job.”

Just alignment + execution.

This happens frequently in elite sport.

Under Pep Guardiola, Barcelona players were trained to understand not only their role but the roles of teammates, creating synchronicity.

They used tactical drills like “rondos” to reinforce positioning and team dynamics.

Impact?

This precision contributed to:

• Their historic treble in 2008–09

• Winning La Liga

• Winning the Copa del Rey

• Winning the UEFA Champions League

3) Nike built a culture of radical transparency

The Obeya room created a “safe zone” where problems were surfaced, not buried.

Teams openly shared:

• What’s not working

• What’s slowing them down

• Where help was needed

Instead of pretending everything was fine, they fixed it together.

Employees started to ask to work in the Obeya rooms to solve key challenges.

They became the cornerstone of clarity and effective teamwork.

Your Challenge This Week: Apply “Obeya” In Your Team For Ruthless Role Clarity

Here’s your 4-step checklist to implement Obeya in your team this week:

1. Define the Game You’re Playing

Before bringing people together in an Obeya room, check you have the right people in the right seats.

Everyone’s an A-player somewhere.

Your job is to make sure that “somewhere” is your team.

But that only works if you’re crystal clear on the context you’re offering.

• Are you a startup or a global giant?

• Remote or in-office?

• Scaling fast or tightening up?

Context shapes everything.

And not every player is built for every game.

2. List the Non-Negotiable Behaviours

Knowing your context means you can identify the behaviours that you believe give you the best chance of winning.

These are your character traits.

You can teach people skills but it is much harder to change who they are.

Character traits don’t teach well, so hire for them.

Example: “Handles feedback like an athlete.”

These behaviours should disqualify a lot of candidates.

Ideally, scare them away proactively.

3. Identify 3–5 Capabilities

The first half is character.

The second half? Capabilities.

And not just “talent” or “potential.”

Capabilities are what someone can actually do in the real world, under pressure, on deadline.

You might be a creative genius.

But if you can’t turn that into client-ready work…

You’re a theory, not an asset.

Let’s make it real.

Vague:

• “Strong design skills”

Better:

• “Create polished design assets in Figma”

Great:

• “Design high-conversion, mobile-first landing pages in Figma that align with modern brand systems”

That is a capability.

It’s not just talent.

It’s talent, applied in a context that matters.

If a role in your team has more than five “must-have” capabilities, stop.

You’re either:

• Not clear enough on what this person actually needs to do

• Or you’re secretly hiring for two jobs and hoping no one notices

Either way, it’s a red flag.

Trim the fat.

Get ruthless.

If you can’t picture a real human doing this job well, you haven’t defined the job well.

4. Use Obeya To Make Roles Visual

You can have the clearest job descriptions in the world…

But if your team can’t see how the pieces fit together, they’ll still step on each other’s toes.

That’s why elite teams make the work visual.

Steal Nike’s Obeya concept.

Find a physical or digital space.

Build a physical wall, a digital dashboard, or a Notion board.

Just make the work visible.

Show: goals, blockers, owners, progress.

Plot every key role on the wall (or digital whiteboard).

Make it clear:

• Who owns what

• What the goals are

• What the blockers are

• How it connects to the team’s goals

• What the timeline is

• What success looks like

• How it impacts the customer

Bonus tip: Actually put names on it. Don’t say “marketing”, say “Jamie.”

Names create ownership. Roles create accountability.

Then cross-train your team to understand what everyone else does and how it impacts them.

When the designer knows how the dev thinks, and the writer knows how the client success team works…

Magic happens.

You’re not building a resume museum.

You’re building a team.

We’re not judging whether someone is a good person.

We’re assessing if they’re a good fit.

Here’s a simple formula:

• Capabilities = the short-term engine

→ What they can do today to drive results.

• Character = the long-term bet

→ How they’ll grow, adapt, and lead tomorrow.

You need both.

One delivers the project.

The other builds the culture.

So yes, look for talent.

But never forget to look for fit.

That’s how great creative teams are built - one clear role at a time.

5) MY TOP FINDS OF THE WEEK 🏆

For Your Performance

• Jimmy Carr’s great advice on how to manage your ambition effectively (Video)

For Your Team

• Interview with Fred Mathijssen on how Obeya works in practise at Nike (Watch here)

For Your Health

• 3 healthy snacks that are quick to make when you are BUSY at work (Check them out)