Stephanie Mehta: Welcome, Anjali. I’m so glad you’re here with us today.
Anjali Sud: you, it is great to 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 easy question: what was it to manage this diverse workforce through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and a very return to office?
AS: Oh, it was a breeze, Stephanie. No, it was really challenging. You know, I think the constant has been change. And as a leader, you — you have a workforce that’s looking for certainty, they’re looking to control what’s happening around them. And I think we all found, as leaders, no matter what company you … responsible for, was that you couldn’t offer certainty, and you couldn’t always control the environment and the around you. And so, you know, for me, it was really about agility. How do we stay flexible a team? How do we communicate in real time and keep people as we try and move through things? And then, also just do we lead with more humanity? You know, for Vimeo, one of things I’ve really learned over the last few years is each experience the world so differently. We have employees who are remote. We have an incredible in Ukraine … employees who are on the front lines, are literally at war. On the other hand, you have people in different parts the world who are experiencing mental-health challenges or burnout, so I think it was really just — the hardest part not being able to give everyone certainty, not being to just apply a one-size-fits-all rule for everyone. But I ultimately think it forced us, as a company, build more trust, because to be agile and flexible, and lead with humanity, you have to trust each other. so, I’m sort of optimistic that actually we’re emerging from this time with a that is more flexible and nimble, and also, hopefully, has trust.
SM: Can you give an example of something that put into place, perhaps during the pandemic, to enhance communications or build trust or a greater sense of community or even to communicate that there is no certainty, that is a muscle you think you’ll continue to use in the organization far into the future?
AS: There’s a of things that we did. One — and we a video platform, so I obviously have to talk about video, I mean this sincerely — one of the hardest parts, when you’re sort of disparate, is you lose context and you nuance when you communicate. And we did make a concerted effort to move away email and chat, text-based communication, as much as possible, and actually try, particularly for our team, when we were communicating, to do it with your face, and your hands and your and your emotions. And we did that through live streaming a of communications, recording a lot of videos. We sent asynchronous video messages. So I … I record my screen and just send a note out people. Every new hire does a video to welcome introduce themselves. A lot of our meetings we’ve actually replaced with quick video presentations. And actually, what that really did was allow humanity and the context to come through and I think that helped us lot 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 to about when things aren’t working, because a critical part of agile 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 this in of my town halls, we do it in a lot of meetings — always talk about what’s working, what are our top things, and what isn’t working — yet. And we’ve kind of created, I think, a framework that sort takes the stigma away from talking about what’s not working. when you make that normalized and comfortable for people, I feel it’s allowed us to be more open, as an organization, about what do need to change, what do we need to pivot. And both of those, being more video-first in our communication being more transparent 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 our members of our workforce live in a video world. They’re used video as a means of communication. Which brings me to next question. You’ve talked about how the organization has changed. How do you see workforce changing? What is different with the young millennials, and even, now, the wave of Gen Z coming into the workplace?
AS: I it’s incredibly different. And, you know, one of the things we think about at Vimeo a lot is a lot of the mechanisms and communication that we still use today, they’re really antiquated. They were for a totally different environment and a totally different generation. I see a lot of differences. One of them, I think, is the line between your life and work life is definitely blending. … If think about your personal life — look at TikTok. This generation used to consuming content, learning, engaging, in a very specific way. if they then have to come to work and to be on a job, read a 300-page manual? Like, it’s not going happen, right? Or if you miss the meeting, and have to watch the Zoom recording of a three-hour meeting — that’s just going to happen. And so I think that there definitely sort of this — you know, we talk about the “consumerization of enterprise.” are just fancy words for saying the way … communicate and interact in our personal lives is going to translate to work. And I definitely think that’s an area of opportunity.
The other I see from sort of the generation, the newest generation coming the workforce, is sort of, of course mission-driven, but I think there’s desire to really understand the “why” behind things. And one of our communication mantras is we talk about the “what” without the “why.” And I think there’s a desire to — the that, well, there’s a hierarchy, or “My boss told me that is what we’re going to do” or — that, think, is increasingly moving away, and people, they don’t just want to do because someone with formal authority told them to do it. They to do it because they understand why it matters, why it to the mission. And I think that that forces leaders to really bring more the “why” into how we communicate and motivate people.
So those are two of things I see, and then, you know, the third I is just flexibility. I think — and this is true of all of us, but the younger generation — I think they’re looking for flexibility they want options and choices. And it’s not always easy and feasible provide ultimate flexibility, but this is where I try orient it more to agility. How can we have approaches and principles and be to things, but also know when to question, and when to 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 next generation employees are going to want, either in terms of purpose in terms of benefits or in terms of flexibility? there programs or processes you’ve put in place that really 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 our workforce is very similar: it’s Q and As engagement surveys, and things like that. And some of the things that we’ve done, 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 when we get from our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t look the averages. You can’t look at it all in totality and and pull out an obvious “Oh, this is how everybody’s feeling.” Because what you actually — when you really dig it and truly listen and do focus groups and talk to people — you’ll find is actually there’s very different experiences and desires among your employees. And so, think for us, what we’ve really just tried to do is have a bunch different listening mechanisms and then resist the urge to 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 of figuring it out, but I will tell you, some of the things that we’ve from employees have changed our approach to hybrid work travel or even things like our approach to compensation our approach to DE and I. So I think it’s more just I said, that agile listening, constantly really 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 really substantial, about the way we solve different things. we used to have a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach in the name consistency and fairness, and what we found is we to be more localized. We really do. We have design mechanisms to support our teams in a very different way, because their and the world around them is quite different.
So think that’s definitely been one, and I will tell you, has involved a lot of — as an executive and leadership team — it’s involved a lot of trying things, not working, and changing them. And a great example is our and A. I feel like every leader I know has a perspective on whether do open Q and A or anonymous Q and A, or real-time Q and A. We’ve changed our there multiple times, and I know we will again, we’re still figuring out the right way to listen and have a dialogue with very diverse workforce.
SM: I want to stay on newcomers to the workplace for another moment, because another thing I hear from CEOs of my generation and is a concern about making sure that we are not just our youngest employees with the flexibility and the purpose that need, but also the training and the wisdom that comes, oftentimes, from in close proximity to a mentor or to somebody who’s done the for many more years. What is your philosophy and take on making sure that knowledge is happening?
AS: I think it’s a major challenge I don’t know that everyone will sort of have a for. I think about 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 able to have a distributed workforce and being able to attract talent and just more inclusive. On the flip side, there’s definitely, I think, a of the same kinds of learning opportunities and mentorship, for the youngest folks that are entering the workforce. I think it’s a 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 my entire executive team is distributed, that means have to learn how to provide real-time feedback, mentorship and development for a whole set of new who have just joined. We have sort of changed up executive team almost entirely in the last twelve months. I’ve had to deal with the same challenges. And we’ve had to literally — call 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 I think, my perspective, it’s more we have to be able 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 that in-person collaboration is really important for learning. We have — we bring people into an office. If you’re remote, we ask folks to come in spend 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 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 same growth opportunities that all had.
SM: Well, and it’s interesting — the that you mentioned at the very beginning of our conversation, around video, can be really helpful there. I’ve of a number of organizations that have really encouraged young people to present, as a way of having to go and find the information they need. And then, because we have video tools to us now, you know, they have an opportunity to share their with a large group of people, but first, kind going 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, you know, exhaustion, burnout. During the Lives Matter protests, we had a lot of people coming to the office trauma, and feeling really 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 bring whole selves to the office, which we encourage, sometimes, they bring things, parts of themselves 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 our people to do their best work. And so, course, we have a real role to play in supporting like mental-health issues or burnout. And, you know, the I think, like many companies, the way we initially probably sought to do that more, you know, you’re seeing a problem and you’re reacting by trying provide mental-health resources or support or time off. And, I — and empathy, just empathy. I think that’s really important. And always say, to so many of our managers … care. If we just care, a lot of things get easier. don’t have to design a hundred mechanisms if you just have right people in place 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 at Vimeo — the root cause of a lot of and burnout is sometimes people either don’t have 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, I think, is where 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 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 into 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 are going to be stakeholders who say, you know, “Out with all of this touchy-feely, the workplace-as-a-family stuff. are my results?”
AS: Absolutely. I think the pendulum has swung pretty clearly. I mean, I work in SAS, software as a service, so we already from “growth at all cost” to “profitability,” you know, swing. My perspective on this — and it hasn’t changed — I think the 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. And so, you know, for me, I what I observed over the last few years is — that part, think, hasn’t changed and shouldn’t change. There were, I think, lot of times when companies, we 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 as — the way you channel how are caring towards your employees and how you are empathetic, always should be in service helping people do their best work, which will deliver results, will be good for the bottom line. And you to believe that. You have to be committed to that and if you use that consistently 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 this period of tremendous turmoil and change, but also growth? You mentioned you just had a baby. There’s lot on your shoulders. How, as a leader, do you practice some self-care or how do you make that you’re getting the balance you need to be the effective leader you can be?
AS: I think — recently, the phrase I use a lot 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.” went public at the height of the pandemic and last year, volatility has been tremendous. You know, we’re obviously going a ton with post-pandemic, we have a team in going through a war — all these things that happened. And so, it’s a hard job, and it’s incredibly privileged job. It’s a gift, right? And so, think for me, it’s sort of acknowledging both of those things has helped me lot. The way I’ve tried to kind of lead, has been — it’s always been way, which is, for me, it’s I have to passion. I have to have passion. I have to believe deeply that what Vimeo is doing is important and for the world. And if I have passion, I have energy and then I will — I can of move through anything. I have to find joy in my team. I like, especially in hard times, I look back at career and actually, some of my most fulfilling times in work were — 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, you know, a really big part it. And then, yeah, like, you have to be little selfish sometimes, and take care of yourself. And am really fortunate. I think I have a great support network around and I do … My husband and I 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 music and do whatever I need to do, and that’s really important.
SM: So you about how hybrid work is going to look very different the future than how we describe it today. It’s basically office a couple of days, work from home a couple of other days. Tell a little bit more about what you could potentially see that evolving into.
AS: I the idea of an office as a time and place completely goes away. And I it’s really going to be people are going to want to work from anywhere, anywhere in world. Even the concept of where you’re located is going to change. And then the idea like “I’m going to work on this time zone” “I’m going to attend this meeting that’s scheduled on date” — I think that’s going to go away. I think 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 that at scale among many people, anywhere in the world. And I think leadership, leaders are going to look different. I think it’s going to require — if you think about the set to be a global CEO 30 years ago what that will require now — I think in the future … the skill set is going to like, “How do you communicate with diverse, global audiences and across time zones in a way that is effective, that context and alignment at scale? How do you organize programs, it’s compensation, whether it’s, you know, training?” All of is going to look very different. But I think ultimate thing you’ll see is just … there were these that we’ve lived with, whether it was time or place or budget, in some cases. I think those constraints are going to go away. And the is that if we are flexible and smart and we use technology the right way, that we’ll actually come away a much more evolved efficient workforce.
SM: Well, I think you just showed us some the passion that you’ve talked about as being the thing that gives you energy lead that organization of 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, thank so much for being here today.
AS: Thank you. This great.