Stephanie Mehta: Welcome, Anjali. I’m so glad you’re with us today.
Anjali Sud: Thank you, it is great to be here.
SM: At Vimeo, you lead a of 1,300 people worldwide — you have creatives, you finance people, you have technologists. So I’m going to with a really easy question: what was it like to manage this diverse workforce through a pandemic, a racial reckoning and a very fraught return office?
AS: Oh, it was a breeze, Stephanie. No, it really challenging. You know, I think the only constant has been change. And as leader, you obviously — you have a workforce that’s looking for certainty, and they’re looking to what’s happening around them. And I think what we all found, as leaders, matter what company you were … 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, for me, it really about agility. How do we stay flexible as a team? How do we communicate in time and keep people informed as we try and move through things? then, also just how do we lead with more humanity? You know, for Vimeo, of the things I’ve really learned over the last years is we each experience the world so differently. have employees who are remote. We have an incredible team in Ukraine … employees who on the front lines, who are literally at war. On the hand, you have people in different parts of the world are experiencing mental-health challenges or burnout, and so I think it really just — the hardest part was not being able to give certainty, not being able to just apply a one-size-fits-all rule for everyone. But ultimately think 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 optimistic that actually we’re emerging from this time with a that is more flexible and nimble, and also, hopefully, has more trust.
SM: Can you an example of something that you put into place, perhaps during the pandemic, enhance communications or build trust or create a greater sense community or even to communicate that there is no certainty, that a muscle that you think you’ll continue to use in the far into the future?
AS: There’s a couple of things that we did. — 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 disparate, is you lose context and you lose nuance when you communicate. we 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 do with your face, and your hands and your body and emotions. And we did that through live streaming a lot of communications, recording a of videos. We sent asynchronous video messages. So I send … I record screen 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 the humanity and the context to come through and I think that helped us a to, kind of, stay close. So that was one, think, really important thing.
Another important thing is, I think, creating mechanisms to make it easier to talk about when aren’t working, because a critical part of being agile is recognizing we have area that isn’t working. And so one of the things that we do Vimeo is we try — I do this in all of my town halls, we do it a lot of meetings — is always talk about what’s working, what are top three things, and what isn’t working — yet. we’ve kind of created, I think, a framework that of takes the stigma away from talking about what’s working. And when you make that normalized and comfortable people, I feel like it’s allowed us to be open, as an organization, about what do we need to change, what we need to pivot. And both of those, being more video-first in our and being more transparent and normalizing what’s not working, I think has really helpful, and certainly something we’re carrying forward.
SM: I love that advice being video-first. So many of our members of our workforce live in video world. They’re used to video as a means communication. Which brings me to my next question. You’ve about how the organization has changed. How do you see the workforce changing? 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 things that we think about at Vimeo a lot is a of the mechanisms and communication modes that we still use today, they’re really antiquated. They were designed for totally different environment and a totally different generation. But I see lot of differences. One of them, I think, is the line your personal life and work life is definitely blending. … you think about your personal 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 miss the meeting, and you have watch the Zoom recording of a three-hour meeting — that’s 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 for saying the way … we communicate and interact in our personal lives is going translate 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 coming into workforce, is sort of, of course mission-driven, but I 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 — the that, well, there’s a hierarchy, or “My boss told me that this what we’re going to do” or — that, I think, is increasingly moving away, people, they don’t just want to do something because with formal authority told them to do it. They to do it because they understand why it matters, why ties to the mission. And I think that that forces to really bring more of the “why” into how we communicate and motivate people.
So are two of the things I see, and then, you know, the third think is just flexibility. I think — and this is true of all of us, particularly the younger generation — I think they’re looking for flexibility and want options and choices. And it’s not always easy and feasible to provide ultimate flexibility, this is where I try and orient it more to agility. How can we have approaches and principles be committed to things, but also know when to question, and when to pivot?
SM: Yeah. Anjali, can you share a few examples ways that you at Vimeo have tried to really be proactive when comes to addressing or understanding what your next generation of employees going to want, either in terms of purpose or in terms benefits or in terms of flexibility? Are there programs or you’ve put in place that really speak to this big sea we’re seeing in terms of values from the workforce?
AS: Firstly, of course, it’s all listening, right? And I think, like many organizations, the we’ve tried to listen and understand our 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, for our internal teams. But I would say one the things that we’ve really tried to do is appreciate that when we get inputs from 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, 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 is actually there’s very different experiences and desires among your employees. And so, I for us, what we’ve really just tried to do is have a bunch different listening mechanisms and then resist the urge to conveniently pull, like, “Oh, this what everyone’s feeling, let’s just do this thing as action.” And it’s hard, and we’re still kind of figuring out, but I will tell you, some of the things we’ve heard from employees have changed our approach to hybrid work or travel or even like our approach to compensation or our approach to DE and I. I think it’s more just like I said, that agile listening, constantly understanding what’s happening, but not treating everything as, like, average or the same. And for us, it’s been particularly stark because we offices and teams in so many different countries and differences, they’re substantial. They’re really substantial, about the way we solve different things. we used to have a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach in the name of consistency and fairness, and we found is we have to be more localized. really do. We have to design mechanisms to support teams in a very different way, because their experiences the world around them is quite different.
So I think that’s definitely been one, and will tell you, it has involved a lot of — an executive team and leadership team — it’s involved a lot of trying things, not working, and changing them. And a great example is our Q A. I feel like every leader I know has perspective on whether they do open Q and A or Q and A, or real-time Q and A. We’ve changed our approach there multiple times, and I know we again, because we’re still figuring out the right way listen and have a dialogue with a very diverse workforce.
SM: want to stay on newcomers to the workplace for just another moment, because thing I hear from CEOs of my generation and older is a concern about making that we are not just providing our youngest employees with the and the purpose that they need, but also the training the wisdom that comes, oftentimes, from being in close proximity to a or to somebody who’s done the job for many more years. What is your and take on making sure that knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: think it’s a major challenge that I don’t know everyone will sort of have a solution for. I think that all the time. We have a very distributed at Vimeo. We have people in over eight countries. My executive team entirely distributed. So 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, I think, lack of the same kinds of learning opportunities and mentorship, particularly for 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 entire executive team is distributed, that means I have to learn how to provide real-time feedback, mentorship development for a whole set of new executives who have just joined. We have of changed up the executive team almost entirely in last twelve months. So I’ve had to deal with the same challenges. we’ve had to literally — we call it our system — we’ve had 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? do we create the right communication loops? And so think, from my perspective, it’s more we have to able to do it ourselves 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 is really important for learning. We do have — we bring into an office. If you’re remote, we ask folks to come in and spend time in room with their team, do social activities, all of 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 that, so that this next generation is able to get the 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 a number of organizations that have really encouraged their young people to present, a way of having to 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 their ideas with a large group of people, but first, kind of through the fact-finding and the research, and then sharing their ideas. In an comment, you talked a little bit about mental illness and the things that people are bringing to work, whether it is, know, exhaustion, burnout. During the Black Lives Matter protests, we a lot of people coming to the office feeling trauma, and feeling personal issues bubble to the surface. I’m wondering if you can share a little 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, parts of that are challenging.
AS: Yeah … I’ve always thought the responsibility of a is to empower people to do their best work and the responsibility of a company is to empower people to do their best work. And so, of course, we a real role to play in supporting things like mental-health issues or burnout. And, know, the 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 trying to provide mental-health resources or support or time off. And, think — and empathy, just empathy. I think that’s 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 hundred mechanisms if you just have the right people in place who care. At the same time, will say what we’re realizing now, in sort of this phase, is that that’s a reactive approach and actually the cause — that we can control at Vimeo — the root cause of 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 like they’re 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 like I’m because there’s too much going on. I don’t feel to solve it.” Then, we should get into the “What is the detail there, and we need to do things differently?” And, you know, one of themes at Vimeo this year was “Do less, better.”
SM: 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, I work SAS, software as a service, so we already went from “growth at cost” to “profitability,” you know, pendulum swing. My perspective on this — and hasn’t changed — I think the best leaders and deliver results and treat people well. And I actually think, if you treat people well, with kindness and empathy, 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 changed and shouldn’t change. were, I think, a lot of times when companies, we did things maybe it was lip service or we felt pressured. And that’s not going to sustainable. But that’s not what — ultimately, that’s not what need, in any 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 their best work, which will deliver results, which will be good for 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 should not be a trade-off. These are not exclusive things.
SM: Anjali, how have you been taking care of yourself during this period tremendous turmoil and change, but also growth? You mentioned just had a baby. There’s a lot on your shoulders. How, a leader, do you practice some self-care or how do you sure that you’re getting the balance you need to be the most effective leader you be?
AS: I think — recently, the phrase I use lot to myself is “two things can be true, both can be true.” say this a lot. And for me, I think of as, like, “This job is hard, and it’s gotten harder.” We went public at the height 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 that happened. And so, it’s a hard job, and it’s an incredibly job. It’s a 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 to kind of lead, has been — it’s always been way, which is, for me, it’s I have to have passion. I have have passion. I have to believe so deeply that what is doing is important and matters for the world. And if I have passion, I energy and then I will — I can kind of move through anything. I have find joy in my team. I feel like, especially in times, I look back at my career and actually, some of my fulfilling times in work were when — in the hardest situations. But it’s because it brought a group of together all on one team, and so I think that’s been, you know, really big part of it. And then, yeah, like, you have be a little selfish sometimes, and take care of yourself. I am really fortunate. I think I have a support network around me and I do … My husband and I a deal, where on Sundays, I disappear for a of hours. I just disappear and I walk around the city and I listen to my and do whatever I need to do, and that’s really important.
SM: you talked about how hybrid work is going to look very different in the than how we describe it today. It’s basically in office a couple of days, work home a couple of other days. Tell us a little bit more what you could potentially see that evolving into.
AS: I think the 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 work from anywhere, anywhere the world. Even the concept of where you’re located is to change. And then the idea of like “I’m going to on this time zone” or “I’m going to attend this that’s scheduled on this date” — I think that’s going go away. And I think what you’re going to find more and more work, particularly from knowledge workers, is going to be done anywhere, anytime. and collaboration will happen asynchronously and we will be using tools technology — whether it’s video, whether it’s AI — to basically enable that at among many people, anywhere in the world. And then I think leadership, leaders are going to look different. Because think it’s going to require — if you think about the skill set to a global CEO 30 years ago versus what that will now — I think in the future … the skill set is going to be like, “How do communicate with diverse, global audiences and employees across time zones in a way that is effective, provides context and alignment at scale? How do you programs, whether it’s compensation, whether it’s, you know, training?” of that is going to look very different. But I think the ultimate you’ll see is just … there were these constraints we’ve lived with, whether it was time or place or budget, some cases. And I think those constraints are going to away. And the promise is that if we are and smart and we use technology in the right way, that we’ll actually come away much more evolved and efficient workforce.
SM: Well, I think just showed us some of the passion that you’ve talked about as being the thing that you energy to lead that organization of 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, you so much for being here today.
AS: Thank you. was great.