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