Stephanie Mehta: Welcome, Anjali. I’m so 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 finance people, you 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, a reckoning and a very fraught return to office?
AS: Oh, was a breeze, Stephanie. No, it was really challenging. You know, think the only constant has been change. And as a leader, you obviously — you have workforce that’s looking for certainty, and they’re looking to what’s happening around them. And I think what we found, as leaders, no matter what company you were … responsible for, was you couldn’t offer certainty, and you couldn’t always control the environment 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 time and people informed as we try and move through things? And then, 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 … employees who are on the front lines, who are literally at war. On the other hand, have people in different parts of the world who are experiencing mental-health or burnout, and so I think it was really — the hardest part was not being able to everyone certainty, not being able to just apply a one-size-fits-all for everyone. But I ultimately think it forced us, a company, to build more trust, because to be agile flexible, and to lead with humanity, you have to each other. And so, I’m sort of optimistic that actually we’re emerging from time 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 to communicate that there is no certainty, that is a muscle that you you’ll continue to use in the organization far into future?
AS: There’s a couple of things that we did. One — 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 move away from email and chat, text-based communication, as much as possible, actually try, particularly for our leadership team, when we were communicating, do it with your face, and your hands and body and your emotions. And we did that through streaming a lot of communications, recording a lot of videos. sent asynchronous video messages. So I send … I record screen and just send a note out to people. Every new does a video to welcome and introduce themselves. A lot of our meetings we’ve actually replaced with just video presentations. And actually, what that really did was allow the and the context to come through and I think helped us a lot to, kind of, stay close. So was one, I think, really important thing.
Another important thing is, I think, creating mechanisms to make it easier to talk about things aren’t working, because a critical part of being is recognizing we have an area that isn’t working. And so one of the things that do at Vimeo is we try — I do 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. And we’ve kind created, I 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 like it’s allowed us to be more open, as an organization, what do we need to change, what do we need to pivot. And both those, being more video-first in our communication and being more transparent and normalizing what’s not working, I think has really helpful, and certainly something we’re carrying forward.
SM: love that advice about being video-first. So many of our members of our 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. How do see the workforce changing? What is different with the young millennials, and even, now, the first wave Gen Z coming into the workplace?
AS: I think it’s different. And, you know, one of the things that we think about Vimeo a lot is a lot of the mechanisms and modes that we still use today, they’re really antiquated. were designed for a totally different environment and a totally different generation. But I see a lot differences. One of them, I think, is the line between your life and work life is definitely blending. … If you think your personal life — look at TikTok. This generation is used to content, learning, engaging, in a very specific way. And if then have to come to work and to be on a job, read a 300-page manual? Like, it’s not going to happen, right? Or you miss the meeting, and you have to watch Zoom recording 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 talk about “consumerization of enterprise.” Those are just fancy words for 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 generation into the workforce, is sort of, of course mission-driven, but I think there’s a desire to really understand “why” behind things. And one of our communication mantras is never talk about the “what” without the “why.” And I think there’s desire to — the 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 moving away, and people, they don’t just want to do because someone with formal authority told them to do it. They want to it because they understand why it matters, why it to the mission. And I think that 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, then, you know, the third I think is just flexibility. I — and this is true of all of us, but particularly the younger generation — think they’re looking for flexibility and they want options and choices. And it’s always easy and feasible to provide ultimate flexibility, but this is I try and orient it more to agility. How can we have approaches and principles and committed to things, but also know when to question, and when to actually pivot?
SM: Yeah. Anjali, can you a few examples of ways that you at Vimeo tried to really be proactive when it comes to addressing or understanding what your next generation of employees going to want, either in terms of purpose or terms of benefits or in terms of flexibility? Are programs or processes you’ve put in place that really speak this big sea change we’re seeing in terms of values from the workforce?
AS: Firstly, course, it’s all about listening, right? And I think, like many organizations, the way we’ve tried listen and understand our workforce is very similar: it’s Q As and engagement surveys, and things like that. And some the things that we’ve done, we have a people and culture NPS, net promoter score, the same way have for our users, for our internal teams. But would say one of the things that we’ve really tried to do is appreciate that we get inputs from our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t look at the averages. You can’t at it all in totality and try and pull out obvious “Oh, this is how everybody’s feeling.” Because what you — when you really dig into it and truly listen and focus groups and talk to people — what you’ll find is actually there’s different experiences and desires among your employees. And so, I for us, what we’ve really just tried to do is a bunch of different listening mechanisms and then resist urge to conveniently pull, like, “Oh, this is what everyone’s feeling, let’s do this 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 have changed approach to hybrid work or travel or even things like our approach 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. for us, it’s been particularly stark because we have offices and in so many different countries and the differences, they’re substantial. They’re substantial, about the way we solve different things. And we used to a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach in 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 very different way, because their experiences and the world around them is different.
So I think that’s definitely been one, and I tell you, it has involved a lot of — as an executive team and leadership — it’s involved a lot of trying things, it not working, and them. And a great example is our Q and A. I like every leader I know has a perspective on whether they do open and A or anonymous Q and A, or real-time and A. We’ve changed our approach there multiple times, and I know will again, because 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 another moment, because another thing I hear CEOs of my generation and older is a concern making sure that we are not just providing our youngest employees the flexibility and the purpose that they need, but also 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. What is philosophy and take on making sure that knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: think it’s a major challenge that I don’t know that everyone sort of have a solution for. I think about all the time. We have a very distributed workforce at Vimeo. We have people in over countries. My executive team is entirely distributed. So I’ve really realized the benefits of being to have a distributed workforce and being able to attract talent and just be more inclusive. On the side, there’s definitely, I think, a lack of the same kinds of opportunities and mentorship, particularly for the youngest folks that are the 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 if my executive team is distributed, that means I have to 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 the executive team entirely in the last twelve months. So I’ve had to with the same challenges. And we’ve had to literally — call it our operating system — we’ve had to an operating system, as an executive team, for how we’re going to together in that environment. How do we share real-time feedback? How do we the right communication loops? And so I think, from my perspective, it’s more we to be able to do it ourselves and model it and then, I it’s a more proven mechanism for young people. I say, like many companies … I do believe that in-person collaboration really important for learning. We do have — we bring into an office. If you’re remote, we ask folks to come in and time in a room with their 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 that I don’t think we’ve really figured out perfectly and think it’s really critical that as leaders, we do 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 mentioned at the very beginning of our conversation, around video, be really helpful there. I’ve heard of a number of that have really encouraged their young people to present, as a way of to go out and find the information they need. then, because we have video tools available to us now, know, they have an opportunity to share their ideas with large group of people, but first, kind of going through fact-finding and the research, and then sharing their ideas. In an earlier comment, talked a little bit about mental illness and the different things that people bringing to work, whether it is, you know, exhaustion, burnout. the Black Lives Matter protests, we had a lot of people coming the office feeling trauma, and feeling really personal issues 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, bring things, parts of themselves that are challenging.
AS: Yeah … I’ve always thought the of a leader is to empower people to do best work and the responsibility of a company is to empower our people to their best work. And so, of course, we have a real to play in supporting things like mental-health issues or burnout. And, you know, the way I think, like companies, the way we initially probably sought to do 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, to so many our managers … just care. If we just care, a lot things get easier. You don’t have to design a hundred mechanisms if you just have right people in place who care. At the same time, will say what we’re realizing now, in sort of next phase, is that that’s a reactive approach and actually the root — 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 to too many things or they don’t feel like they’re in doing those things. And that, I think, is actually we should be spending more time — is how do we set the right prioritization and focus. There’s some issue there, right? There’s a cause there that’s a “Oh, I feel like I’m because there’s too much going on. I don’t feel equipped to solve it.” Then, we should get into “What is the detail there, and do we need to things differently?” And, you know, one of our themes at Vimeo this was “Do less, better.”
SM: As the economy starts to, maybe, move sideways, do you think there are going to be stakeholders who say, you know, “Out with of this touchy-feely, the workplace-as-a-family stuff. Where are my results?”
AS: Absolutely. I think the pendulum has swung pretty clearly. I mean, I work in SAS, software a service, so we already went from “growth at all cost” to “profitability,” you know, pendulum swing. perspective on this — and it hasn’t changed — I the best leaders and cultures deliver results and treat people well. And I actually think, if you treat well, with kindness and empathy, you will get better results. so, you know, for me, I think what I observed 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 because maybe it lip service or we felt pressured. And that’s not going to be sustainable. that’s not what — ultimately, that’s not what people need, any case. So, you know, I sort of see it as — way you channel how you are caring towards your and how you are empathetic, always should be in service of helping people do their best work, which deliver results, which will be good for the bottom line. And have to believe that. You have to be committed to that if you use that consistently in your decision-making, it should not be a trade-off. These are mutually exclusive things.
SM: Anjali, how have you been care of yourself during this period of tremendous turmoil and change, but growth? You mentioned you just had a baby. There’s a lot on your shoulders. How, a leader, do 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, the I use a lot to myself is “two things can be true, can be true.” I say this a lot. And me, I think of it as, like, “This job is hard, and it’s harder.” We went public at the height of the and last year, market volatility has been tremendous. You know, we’re obviously through a ton with post-pandemic, we have a team in Ukraine going a war — all these things that have happened. 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 those things has helped me a lot. The 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 to passion. I have to believe so deeply that what Vimeo is doing is important and for the world. And if I have passion, I have energy and I will — I 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 work were when — the hardest business situations. But it’s because it brought a group of people all on one team, and so I think that’s been, you know, a really big part it. And then, yeah, like, you have to be a selfish sometimes, and take care of yourself. And I am really fortunate. I I have a great support network around me and do … My husband and I have a deal, where on Sundays, I disappear for a couple hours. I just disappear and I walk around the city I listen to my music and do whatever I need do, and that’s really important.
SM: So you talked about how hybrid work going to look very different in the future than 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 about what you could potentially see evolving into.
AS: I think the idea of an office as a time place completely goes away. And I think it’s really going be people are going to want to work from anywhere, in the world. Even the concept of where you’re located going to change. And then the idea of like “I’m going work on this time zone” or “I’m going to this meeting that’s scheduled on this date” — I that’s going to 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. Communication collaboration will happen asynchronously and we will be using tools and — whether it’s video, whether it’s AI — to basically enable that at scale 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 be a global 30 years ago versus what that will require now — think in the future … the skill set is going to be like, “How do you communicate with diverse, audiences and employees across time zones in a way 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 different. But I think the ultimate thing you’ll see is … there were these constraints that we’ve lived with, it was time or place or budget, in some cases. And I think those constraints going to go away. And the promise is that we are flexible and smart and we use technology in the way, that we’ll actually come away a much more and efficient workforce.
SM: Well, I think you just 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, thank you much for being here today.
AS: Thank you. This great.