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