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 people worldwide — have creatives, you have finance people, you have technologists. So I’m going to with a really easy question: what was it like to manage this diverse through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and a very return to office?
AS: Oh, it was a breeze, Stephanie. No, it really challenging. You know, I think the only constant has change. And as a leader, you obviously — you have a that’s looking for certainty, and they’re looking to control what’s happening around them. I think what we all found, as leaders, no matter what company were … responsible for, was that you couldn’t offer certainty, and you couldn’t always control the environment the things around you. And so, you know, for me, was really about agility. How do we stay flexible a team? How do we communicate in real time and keep people informed as we try move through things? And then, also just how do we lead with humanity? You know, for Vimeo, one of the things I’ve really over the last few years is we each experience world so differently. We have employees who are remote. We have an incredible team in … employees who are on the front lines, who literally at war. On the other hand, you have people in different parts of the who are experiencing mental-health challenges or burnout, and so I think it was really — the hardest part was not being able to give everyone certainty, not being able to just apply one-size-fits-all rule for everyone. But I ultimately think it forced us, as a company, to more trust, because to be agile and flexible, and lead with humanity, you 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 or build trust or create a greater sense of or even to communicate that there is no certainty, is a muscle that you think you’ll continue to in the organization far into the future?
AS: There’s a couple of that we did. One — and we are a video platform, I obviously have to talk about video, but I mean this sincerely — one the hardest parts, when you’re all sort of disparate, is you lose context and lose nuance when you communicate. And we did make concerted effort to move away from email and chat, text-based communication, much as possible, and actually try, particularly for our leadership team, when we communicating, to do it with your face, and your and your body and your emotions. And we did that through live streaming lot of communications, recording a lot of videos. We asynchronous video messages. So I send … I record my 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 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 is, I think, just creating mechanisms to make it to talk about when things aren’t working, because a critical part of 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 this in all of my town halls, we do it in a lot meetings — is always talk about what’s working, what are our top three things, what isn’t working — yet. And we’ve kind of created, I think, a framework sort of takes the stigma away from talking about what’s working. And when you make that normalized and comfortable for people, feel like it’s allowed us to be more open, as organization, about what do we need to change, what do need to pivot. And both of those, being more video-first in our communication and being more and normalizing what’s not working, I think has been 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 of communication. Which me to my next question. You’ve talked about how the organization changed. How do you see the workforce changing? What is different the young millennials, and even, now, the first wave of Gen Z coming into the workplace?
AS: think it’s incredibly different. And, you know, one of the things that we think about Vimeo a lot is a lot of the mechanisms and communication modes that we still today, they’re really antiquated. They were designed for a totally different environment and a totally different generation. But see a lot of differences. One of them, I think, is the line between your personal life and life is definitely blending. … If you think about personal life — look at TikTok. This generation is used consuming content, learning, engaging, in a very specific way. And 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? if you miss the meeting, and you have to 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 is going to translate to work. And so I definitely think that’s area of opportunity.
The other thing I see from of the generation, the newest generation coming into the workforce, sort of, of course mission-driven, but I think there’s a desire really understand the “why” behind things. And one of our communication mantras is we never about the “what” without the “why.” And I think there’s a to — the idea that, well, there’s a hierarchy, or “My boss me that this is 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 want do it because they understand why it matters, why ties to the mission. And I think that that leaders to really bring more of the “why” into we communicate and motivate people.
So those are two of the I see, and then, you know, the third I think is just flexibility. I — and this is true of all of us, but particularly the younger generation — I think they’re for flexibility and they want options and choices. And it’s always easy and feasible to provide ultimate flexibility, but this is where I and orient it more to agility. How can we approaches and principles and be committed to things, but also know when to question, and to actually pivot?
SM: Yeah. Anjali, can you share a few of ways that you at Vimeo have tried to really be proactive when it comes to addressing or what your next generation of employees are going to want, either in terms of purpose or in of benefits or in terms of flexibility? Are there 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, many organizations, the way we’ve tried to listen and understand our workforce very similar: it’s Q and As and engagement surveys, and like that. And some of the things that we’ve done, we have a and culture NPS, net promoter score, the same way we for our users, for our internal teams. But I say one of the things that we’ve really tried to is appreciate that when we get inputs from our employees, 1,300 … you can’t look at the averages. You can’t look it all in totality and try and pull out an obvious “Oh, this is how everybody’s feeling.” what you actually — when you really dig into and truly listen and do focus groups and talk people — what you’ll find is actually there’s very experiences and desires among your employees. And so, I think us, what we’ve really just tried to do is have a bunch of different mechanisms and then resist the urge to conveniently pull, like, “Oh, is what everyone’s feeling, let’s just do this thing the action.” And it’s hard, and we’re still kind of figuring it out, but I will tell you, some 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 think it’s more like 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 offices and 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 to a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach in the of consistency and fairness, and what we found is we have be more localized. We really do. We have to design mechanisms to our teams in a very different way, because their experiences and the around them is quite different.
So I think that’s definitely one, and I will tell you, it has involved a lot of — as an executive team leadership team — it’s involved a lot of trying things, it not working, changing them. And a 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 again, because we’re still figuring out the right way to listen and have dialogue with a very diverse workforce.
SM: I want 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 employees with the flexibility and the purpose that they need, also the training and the wisdom that comes, oftentimes, from being in close proximity to a mentor 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: I it’s a major challenge that I don’t know that 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 team is entirely distributed. So I’ve really realized the benefits of being to have a distributed workforce and being able to talent and just be more inclusive. On the flip side, there’s definitely, I think, a lack of the same kinds of opportunities and mentorship, particularly for the youngest folks that are entering the workforce. So I it’s a challenge. One of the approaches that we’ve taking, and what’s sort of nice, is we’re modeling it the top. So if my entire executive team is distributed, that means I have to learn how provide real-time feedback, mentorship and development for a whole set of executives who have just joined. We have sort of up the executive team almost entirely in the last twelve months. So I’ve had to with the same challenges. And we’ve had to literally — we call our 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 do we create the right loops? And so I think, from my perspective, it’s we have to be able to do it ourselves and model it and then, I it’s a more proven mechanism for young people. I will say, like many … I do believe that in-person collaboration is really for learning. We do have — we bring people 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 area that 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 able get the same growth opportunities that we all had.
SM: Well, and it’s — the tools that you mentioned at the very of our conversation, around video, can be really helpful there. I’ve heard of a number of organizations have really encouraged their young people to present, as a way of having to out 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 ideas with large group of people, but first, kind of going through the fact-finding the research, and then sharing their ideas. In an comment, you talked a little bit about mental illness the different things that people are bringing to work, whether it is, you know, exhaustion, burnout. the Black Lives Matter protests, we had a lot 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 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 leader is empower people to do their best work and the responsibility a company is to empower our people to do their work. And so, of course, we have a real role to play in things like mental-health issues or burnout. And, you know, the way I think, like companies, the way we initially probably sought to do was more, you know, you’re seeing a problem and you’re by trying to provide mental-health resources or support or time off. And, I think — 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 lot of get easier. You don’t have to design a hundred mechanisms if you just the right people in place who care. At the 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 root cause a lot of stress and burnout is sometimes people 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, think, is 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 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 get into the “What is the detail there, and we need to do 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, you think that there are going to be stakeholders say, you know, “Out with all of this touchy-feely, the workplace-as-a-family stuff. Where are my results?”
AS: Absolutely. think the pendulum has already swung pretty clearly. I mean, I work in SAS, software as a service, we already went from “growth at all cost” to “profitability,” you know, swing. My perspective on this — and it 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 empathy, you will get better results. And so, you know, me, I think what I observed over the last years is — that part, I think, hasn’t changed shouldn’t change. There were, I think, a lot of times when companies, we did because maybe it was lip service or we felt pressured. that’s not going to be 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 employees and how you are empathetic, always should be in service of people do their best work, which will deliver results, which will be for the bottom line. And you have to believe that. have to be committed to that and if you use that 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 during this period of tremendous turmoil and change, but also growth? You mentioned you just 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 balance you need to be the most effective leader you be?
AS: I think — recently, the phrase I 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 hard, and it’s gotten harder.” We went public at height of the pandemic and last year, market volatility has been tremendous. know, we’re obviously going through 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 an privileged job. It’s a gift, right? And so, I think me, it’s sort of acknowledging both of those things has helped me a lot. The 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 matters for world. And if I have passion, I have energy and then I will — I kind of move through anything. I have to find joy in my team. I feel like, in hard times, I look back at my career and actually, some of my most fulfilling times in work were — in the hardest business situations. But it’s because it a group of people together all on one team, so I think that’s been, you know, a really big part of it. then, yeah, like, you have to be a little selfish sometimes, and take care of yourself. And I really fortunate. I think I have a great support network me and I do … My husband and I have a deal, where Sundays, I disappear for a couple of hours. I just disappear and I walk the city and I listen to my music and do whatever I need to do, that’s really important.
SM: So you talked about how hybrid work is to look very different in the future than how describe it today. It’s basically in office a couple of days, from home a couple of other days. Tell us a little bit more about what you potentially see that evolving into.
AS: I think the idea of an as a time and place completely goes away. And I it’s really going to be people are going to want 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 work on this time zone” or “I’m going to attend this meeting that’s on this date” — I think that’s going to go away. And I think you’re going to find is more and 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 basically enable that scale among many people, anywhere in the world. And then 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 require now — think in the future … the skill set is going to be like, “How do you with diverse, global audiences and employees across time zones a way that is effective, that provides context and alignment at scale? How you organize programs, whether it’s compensation, whether it’s, you know, training?” All of that is to look very different. But I think the ultimate thing you’ll see just … there were these constraints that we’ve lived with, whether it was or place or budget, in some cases. And I think constraints are going to go away. And the promise that if we are flexible and smart and we technology in the right way, that we’ll actually come away a much more and efficient workforce.
SM: Well, I think you just showed us of the passion that you’ve talked about as being the that gives you energy to lead that organization of 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, thank so much for being here today.
AS: Thank you. This great.