Prime example: if you go to any article about "OKR methodology" you will find the authors stating that it was OKRs that made Google what it is. If your manager sees such an article, you will be switching to OKRs instantly.
Also most companies I have seen and worked with are doing OKR as a to-do list for the management to check what people are doing.
However, like you said, without a clear vision and long-term strategy, OKRs basically become "management wishlist".
The rest people just started to game the system so they would look better on paper for the management people but the product was still a mess and awful.
Today I learned:
Besides how often plans lead to the planned outcome?