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