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