Stephanie Mehta: Welcome, Anjali. I’m glad you’re here with us today.
Anjali Sud: Thank you, is great to be here.
SM: At Vimeo, you lead a workforce 1,300 people worldwide — you have creatives, you have finance people, you have technologists. I’m going to start with a really easy question: what was it like manage this diverse workforce through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and a very return to office?
AS: Oh, it was a breeze, Stephanie. No, it was really challenging. You know, think the only constant has been change. And as leader, you obviously — you have a workforce that’s looking for certainty, they’re looking to control what’s happening around them. And I what we all found, as leaders, no matter what company you … responsible for, was that you couldn’t offer certainty, you couldn’t always control the environment and the things around you. And so, you know, me, it was really about agility. How do we flexible as a team? How do we communicate in real and keep people informed as we try and move things? And then, also just how do we lead more humanity? You know, for Vimeo, one of the I’ve really learned over the last few years is we experience the world so differently. We have employees who are remote. We have incredible team in Ukraine … employees who are on the front lines, who are at war. On the other hand, you have people different parts of the world who are experiencing mental-health challenges or burnout, and so I think was really just — the hardest part was not being able to give certainty, not being able to just apply a one-size-fits-all rule everyone. But I ultimately think it forced us, as company, to build more trust, because to be agile flexible, and to lead with humanity, you have to each other. And so, I’m sort of optimistic that actually we’re emerging this time with a culture that is more flexible and nimble, and also, hopefully, has trust.
SM: Can you give an example of something that put into place, perhaps during the pandemic, to enhance communications build trust or create a greater sense of community or even to communicate that is no certainty, that is a muscle that you think you’ll continue use in the organization far into the future?
AS: There’s a couple of things that we did. One — we are a video platform, so I obviously have to talk video, but I mean this sincerely — one of hardest parts, when you’re all sort of disparate, is you context and you lose nuance when you communicate. And did make a concerted effort to move away from email chat, text-based communication, as much as possible, and actually try, for our leadership team, when we were communicating, to it with your face, and your hands and your and your emotions. And we did that through live streaming a lot of communications, a lot of videos. We sent asynchronous video messages. So I … I record my screen and just send a out to people. Every new hire does a video to welcome and themselves. A lot of our meetings we’ve actually replaced with quick video presentations. And actually, what that really did was allow the and the context to come through and I think that helped us lot to, kind of, stay close. So that was one, think, really important thing.
Another important thing is, I think, just creating to make it easier to talk about when things aren’t working, because a critical part being agile is recognizing we have an area that isn’t working. And so one of the things that we at Vimeo is we try — I do this in all my town halls, we do it in a lot meetings — is always talk about what’s working, what our top three things, and what isn’t working — yet. And we’ve kind of created, think, a framework that sort of takes the stigma away talking about what’s not working. And when you make that and comfortable for people, I feel like it’s allowed us to be more open, as organization, about what do we need to change, what do we need to pivot. And of those, being more video-first in our communication and more transparent and normalizing what’s not working, I think has been helpful, and certainly something we’re carrying forward.
SM: I that advice about being video-first. So many of our of our workforce live in a video world. They’re used to as a means of communication. Which brings me to my question. You’ve talked about how the organization has changed. How do you the workforce changing? What is different with the young millennials, and even, now, the first wave Gen Z coming into the workplace?
AS: I think it’s different. And, you know, one of the things that we think about at a lot is a lot of the mechanisms and communication modes that still use today, they’re really antiquated. They were designed for a totally environment and a totally different generation. But I see lot of differences. One of them, I think, is the line between personal life and work life is definitely blending. … If you think about your life — look at TikTok. This generation is used to content, learning, engaging, in a very specific way. And if they have to come to work and to be trained on a job, a 300-page manual? Like, it’s not going to happen, right? if you miss the meeting, and you have to watch the Zoom recording of a three-hour — that’s just not going to happen. And so I think that there is sort of this — you know, we talk about the “consumerization of enterprise.” Those are just fancy words saying the way … we communicate and interact in our personal is going to translate to work. And so I think that’s an area of opportunity.
The other thing I see from sort of the generation, newest generation coming into the workforce, is sort of, course mission-driven, but I think there’s a desire to really the “why” behind things. And one of our communication is we never talk about the “what” without the “why.” And think there’s a desire to — the idea that, well, there’s hierarchy, or “My boss told me that this is what we’re going do” or — that, I think, is increasingly moving away, and people, they don’t just want do something because someone with formal authority told them to do it. They want to do because they understand why it matters, why it ties the mission. And I think that that forces leaders to bring more of the “why” into how we communicate and motivate people.
So those are of the things I see, and then, you know, the third I think is just flexibility. think — and this is true of all of us, but the younger generation — I think they’re looking for and they want options and choices. And it’s not always easy feasible to provide ultimate flexibility, but this is where I try orient it more to agility. How can we have approaches and principles be committed to things, but also know when to question, when to actually pivot?
SM: Yeah. Anjali, can you a few examples of ways that you at Vimeo have tried really be proactive when it comes to addressing or understanding what next generation of employees are going to want, either in terms of purpose in terms of benefits or in terms of flexibility? there programs or processes you’ve put in place that really to this big sea change we’re seeing in terms of values from workforce?
AS: Firstly, of course, it’s all about listening, right? I think, like many organizations, the way we’ve tried to listen and understand our workforce is very similar: it’s Q As and engagement surveys, and things like that. And some of the that we’ve done, we have a people and culture NPS, net promoter score, the way we have for our users, for our internal teams. But I would say one of things that we’ve really tried to do is appreciate that when get inputs from our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t look at the averages. You can’t at it all in totality and try and pull out an obvious “Oh, this how everybody’s feeling.” Because what you actually — when you really dig into and truly listen and do focus groups and talk people — what you’ll find is actually there’s very different experiences desires among your employees. And so, I think for us, what we’ve really just tried to is have a bunch of different listening mechanisms and then resist urge to conveniently pull, like, “Oh, this is what everyone’s feeling, let’s just do thing as the action.” And it’s hard, and we’re still of figuring it out, but I will tell you, some the things that we’ve heard from employees have changed our approach to hybrid or travel or even things like our approach to compensation or our approach DE and I. So I think it’s more just like I said, agile listening, constantly really understanding what’s happening, but not everything as, like, an average or the same. And us, it’s been particularly stark because we have offices and teams in so many different and the differences, they’re substantial. They’re really substantial, about the way we solve different things. And we to have a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach in the name of consistency fairness, and what we found is we have to more localized. We really do. We have to design mechanisms to support our teams in very different way, because their experiences and the world around is quite different.
So I think that’s definitely been one, and will tell you, it has involved a lot of — as an executive team and leadership team — it’s a lot of trying things, it not working, and changing them. And a great example is our and A. I feel like every leader I know a perspective on whether they do open Q and or anonymous Q and A, or real-time Q and A. We’ve changed approach there multiple times, and I know we will again, because we’re still figuring out right way to listen and have a dialogue with a very workforce.
SM: I want to stay on newcomers to the workplace for just another moment, another thing I hear from CEOs of my generation and older is concern about making sure that we are not just providing our youngest employees with the flexibility and the that they need, but also the training and the wisdom comes, oftentimes, from being in close proximity to a or to somebody who’s done the job for many more years. is your philosophy and take on making sure that knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: think it’s a major challenge that I don’t know that everyone will sort of a solution for. I think about that all the time. We have a very distributed workforce Vimeo. We have people in over eight countries. My executive team is entirely distributed. So I’ve really realized benefits of being able to have a distributed workforce being able to attract talent and just be more inclusive. On the flip side, there’s definitely, think, a lack of the same kinds of learning opportunities and mentorship, particularly for the folks that are entering the workforce. So I think it’s challenge. One of the approaches that we’ve been taking, and what’s sort of nice, is we’re modeling it the top. So if my entire executive team is distributed, that means I have to learn how provide real-time feedback, mentorship and development for a whole set of new who have just joined. We have sort of changed up executive team almost entirely in the last twelve months. I’ve had to deal with the same challenges. And we’ve had to literally — call it our operating system — we’ve had to design an operating system, as an team, for how we’re going to work together in that environment. How do we share real-time feedback? do we create the right communication loops? And so I think, my perspective, it’s more we have to be able to do ourselves and model it and then, I think it’s more proven mechanism for young people. I will say, many companies … I do believe that in-person collaboration is really important learning. We do have — we bring people into an office. you’re remote, we ask folks to come in and spend in a room with their team, do social activities, all of those things. I don’t think will go away, nor do I think they should. But, you know, candidly, it’s an area I don’t think we’ve really figured out perfectly and I think it’s really critical that as leaders, do that, so that this next generation is able to get same growth opportunities that we all had.
SM: Well, and it’s interesting — tools that you mentioned at the very beginning of our conversation, video, can be really helpful there. I’ve heard of number of organizations that have really encouraged their young people present, as a way of having to go out find the information they need. And then, because we have video available to us now, you know, they have an opportunity share their ideas with a large group of people, but first, of going through the fact-finding and the research, and sharing their ideas. In an earlier comment, you talked a little bit about illness and the different things that people are bringing work, whether it is, you know, exhaustion, burnout. During the Black Lives protests, we had a lot of people coming to the feeling trauma, and feeling really personal issues bubble to the surface. I’m wondering if you can share little bit about how you deal with this increasing personal — you know, when people bring their selves to the office, which we encourage, sometimes, they bring things, parts of themselves that challenging.
AS: Yeah … I’ve always thought the responsibility of a leader is to empower people to do best work and the responsibility of a company is to empower our people do their best work. And so, of course, we have a real role to play in things like mental-health issues or burnout. And, you know, the way I think, many companies, the way we initially probably sought to that was more, you know, you’re seeing a problem and you’re reacting by trying to mental-health resources or support or time off. And, I think — and empathy, just empathy. think that’s really important. And I always say, to so many our managers … just care. If we just care, a lot of things easier. You don’t have to design a hundred mechanisms if you have the right people in place who care. At same time, I will say what we’re realizing now, sort of this next phase, is that that’s a approach and actually the root cause — that we control at Vimeo — the root cause of a lot of stress and is sometimes people either don’t have enough … focus, we’re asking people to too many things or they don’t feel like they’re supported in doing those things. that, I think, is actually where we should be spending more time — is how do actually set the right prioritization and focus. There’s some issue there, right? There’s a root there that’s a “Oh, I feel like I’m stressed because there’s too much on. I don’t feel equipped to solve it.” Then, should get into the “What is the detail there, do we need to do things differently?” And, you know, one of our themes at this year was “Do less, better.”
SM: As the economy to, maybe, move sideways, do you think that there going to be stakeholders who say, you know, “Out with all of this touchy-feely, the workplace-as-a-family stuff. Where my results?”
AS: Absolutely. I think the pendulum has already swung clearly. I mean, I work in SAS, software as a service, so we already went from “growth all cost” to “profitability,” you know, pendulum swing. My perspective on this — and it hasn’t changed — I the best leaders and cultures deliver results and treat well. And I actually think, if you treat people well, with kindness empathy, you will get better results. And so, you know, for me, I what I observed over the last few years is — that part, think, hasn’t changed and shouldn’t change. There were, I think, a lot of when companies, we did things because maybe it was service or we felt pressured. And that’s not going to be sustainable. But that’s what — ultimately, that’s not what people need, in any case. So, you know, I sort of see it as — way you channel how you are caring towards your and how you are empathetic, always should be in service of helping people their best work, which will deliver results, which will good for the bottom line. And you have to believe that. You to be committed to that and if you use consistently in your decision-making, it should not be a trade-off. These are not mutually things.
SM: Anjali, how have you been taking care yourself during this period of tremendous turmoil and change, but growth? You mentioned you just had a baby. There’s a lot your shoulders. How, as a leader, do you practice some self-care how do you make sure that you’re getting the balance you need to the most effective leader you can be?
AS: I — recently, the phrase I use a lot to myself is “two things can true, both can be true.” I say this a lot. And for me, I of it as, like, “This job is hard, and it’s gotten harder.” We public at the height of the pandemic and last year, market volatility has tremendous. You know, we’re obviously going through a ton post-pandemic, we have a team in Ukraine going through war — all these things that have happened. And so, it’s a hard job, it’s an incredibly privileged job. It’s a gift, right? so, I think for me, it’s sort of acknowledging both of those things has me a lot. The way I’ve tried to kind of lead, has — it’s always been this way, which is, for me, it’s I have to have passion. I to have passion. I have to believe so deeply that what Vimeo is is important and matters for the world. And if I have passion, I have energy then I will — I can kind of move through anything. I have find joy in my team. I feel like, especially in hard times, I look back my career and actually, some of my most fulfilling times in work were when — in the business situations. But it’s because it brought a group of people together on one team, and so I think that’s been, you know, a big part of it. And then, yeah, like, you have to a little selfish sometimes, and take care of yourself. And I am fortunate. I think I have a great support network around me I do … My husband and I have a deal, where on Sundays, disappear for a couple of hours. I just disappear I walk around the city and I listen to my music and do whatever I need do, and that’s really important.
SM: So you talked about how hybrid work is going to look very in the future than how we describe it today. It’s basically in a couple of days, work from home a couple of other days. us a little bit more about what you could potentially see evolving into.
AS: I think the idea of an office as a time and place completely goes away. I think it’s really going to be people are going to want to from anywhere, anywhere in the world. Even the concept of where you’re located going to change. And then the idea of like “I’m to work on this time zone” or “I’m going to this meeting that’s scheduled on this date” — I think that’s going to go away. I think what you’re going to find is more and more work, particularly from workers, is going to be done anywhere, anytime. Communication collaboration will happen asynchronously and we will be using tools technology — whether it’s video, whether it’s AI — to basically enable that at scale among people, anywhere in the world. And then I think leadership, leaders going to look different. Because I think it’s going to — if you think about the skill set to a global CEO 30 years ago versus what that will require now — I think in the … the skill set is going to be like, “How you communicate with diverse, global audiences and employees across time zones a way that is effective, that provides context and alignment at scale? do you organize programs, whether it’s compensation, whether it’s, you know, training?” of that is going to look very different. But I think ultimate thing you’ll see is just … there were these constraints that we’ve lived with, whether it time or place or budget, in some cases. And I think those constraints going to go away. And the promise is that if we flexible and smart and we use technology in the right way, we’ll actually come away a much more evolved and workforce.
SM: Well, I think you just showed us some of the passion that you’ve talked as being the thing that gives you energy to lead that organization 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, thank you so much for being here today.
AS: you. This was great.