Stephanie Mehta: Welcome, Anjali. I’m glad you’re here with us today.
Anjali Sud: Thank you, it is to be here.
SM: At Vimeo, you lead a workforce of 1,300 people worldwide — you have creatives, have finance people, you have technologists. So I’m going to start with a really easy question: what was like to manage this diverse workforce through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and very fraught return to office?
AS: Oh, it was breeze, Stephanie. No, it was really challenging. You know, I think the only 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 all found, as leaders, no matter company you were … responsible for, was that you couldn’t certainty, and you couldn’t always control the environment and the things around you. And so, know, for me, it was really about agility. How do we stay flexible as a team? do we communicate in real time and keep people informed we try and move through things? And then, also just how do lead with more humanity? You know, for Vimeo, one of things I’ve really learned over the last few years is we each experience world so differently. We have employees who are remote. We an incredible team in Ukraine … employees who are on the front lines, who are literally at war. On other hand, you have people in different parts of world who are experiencing mental-health challenges or burnout, and so I think it was just — the hardest part was not being able to give certainty, not being able to just apply a one-size-fits-all rule everyone. But I ultimately think it forced us, as a company, build more trust, because to be agile and flexible, to lead with humanity, you have to trust each other. And so, I’m sort optimistic that actually we’re emerging from this time with a culture is more flexible and nimble, and also, hopefully, has more trust.
SM: Can you give an example of that you put into place, perhaps during the pandemic, to enhance communications or build trust create a greater sense of community or even to communicate that there is no certainty, that is muscle that you think you’ll continue to use in the organization far into future?
AS: There’s a couple of things that we did. — and we are a video platform, so I obviously to talk about video, but I mean this sincerely — of the hardest parts, when you’re all sort of disparate, is you context and you lose nuance when you communicate. And we make a concerted effort to move away from email and chat, text-based communication, much as possible, and actually try, particularly for our leadership team, when were communicating, to do it with your face, and your hands and your body and your emotions. we did that through live streaming a lot of communications, recording lot of videos. We sent asynchronous video messages. So I send … I my screen and just send a note out to people. Every new hire a video to 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 I that helped us a 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 talk about things 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 we do at Vimeo is we try — I do this in all of my town halls, we it in 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 sort of takes the stigma away talking about what’s not working. And when you make that normalized and for people, I feel like it’s allowed us to be open, as an organization, about what do we need change, what do 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 been really helpful, certainly something we’re carrying forward.
SM: I love that about being video-first. So many of our members of our workforce live in a video world. They’re to video as a means of communication. Which brings me to my next question. You’ve about how the organization has changed. How do you see the workforce changing? What is with the young millennials, and even, now, the first wave Gen Z coming into the workplace?
AS: I think it’s incredibly different. And, you know, of the things that we think about at Vimeo 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 a totally different generation. But I see a lot of differences. of them, I think, is the line between your personal life and life is definitely blending. … If you think about your personal life — look at TikTok. This generation used to consuming content, learning, engaging, in a very way. And if they then have to come to work and to be trained on job, read a 300-page manual? Like, it’s not going to happen, right? if you miss the meeting, and you have to watch the Zoom of a three-hour meeting — that’s just not going to happen. And so I think that is definitely sort of this — you know, we about the “consumerization of enterprise.” Those are just fancy words for saying the … we communicate and interact in our personal lives is going to translate 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 the workforce, 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 never 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 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 want to do because they understand why it matters, why it ties to the mission. And think that that forces leaders to really bring more of the “why” into how we and motivate people.
So those are two of the things see, and then, you know, the third I think is just flexibility. think — and this is true of all of us, but particularly the generation — I think they’re looking for flexibility and they want 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 and be committed to things, but also know when question, and when to actually pivot?
SM: Yeah. Anjali, you share a few examples of ways that you Vimeo have tried to really be proactive when it to addressing or understanding what your next generation of are 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 to this 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 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, promoter score, the same way we have for our users, for internal teams. But I would say one of the things that we’ve really tried to do is appreciate when we get inputs from our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t look the averages. You can’t look at it all in totality and try and pull out an “Oh, this is how everybody’s feeling.” Because what you — when you really dig into it and truly listen do focus groups and talk to people — what you’ll find is actually there’s very different and desires among your employees. And so, I think for us, what we’ve just tried to do is have a bunch of different listening mechanisms and then resist the urge conveniently pull, like, “Oh, this is what everyone’s feeling, let’s just do this thing as the action.” it’s hard, and we’re still kind of figuring it out, but I will you, some of the things that we’ve heard from have changed our approach to hybrid work or travel or things like our approach to compensation or our approach DE and I. So I think it’s more just like I said, agile listening, constantly really understanding what’s happening, but not everything as, like, an 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. And used to have a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach in the name of and fairness, and what we found is we have be more localized. We really do. We have to design mechanisms to support our teams in very different way, because their experiences and the world them is quite different.
So I think that’s definitely been one, and I tell you, it has involved a lot of — an executive team and leadership team — it’s involved a lot trying things, it not working, and changing them. And a great is our Q and A. I feel like every leader know has a perspective on whether they do open Q and A anonymous Q and A, or real-time Q and A. We’ve changed our approach there multiple times, and know we will again, because we’re still figuring out the right way listen and have a dialogue with a very diverse workforce.
SM: I want to stay on newcomers to the workplace just another moment, because another thing I hear from CEOs my generation and older is a concern about making that we are not just providing our youngest employees with flexibility and the purpose that they need, but also the training the wisdom that comes, oftentimes, from being in close proximity to a mentor or to somebody who’s the job for many more years. What is your philosophy and take making sure that knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: I think it’s a major that I don’t know that everyone will sort of a solution for. I think about 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 of being able to have a distributed workforce and being able to attract talent and just be inclusive. On the flip side, there’s definitely, I think, a lack of the same kinds of learning and mentorship, particularly for the youngest folks that are entering the workforce. So think it’s a challenge. One of the approaches that we’ve taking, and what’s sort of nice, is we’re modeling it at the top. So if my entire team is distributed, that means I have to learn how to provide real-time feedback, mentorship and development a whole set of new executives who have just joined. We have sort of up the executive team almost entirely in the last months. So I’ve had to deal with the same challenges. we’ve had to literally — we call it our operating system — we’ve had design an operating system, as an executive team, for how we’re going to work together in that environment. do we share real-time feedback? How do we create the communication loops? And so I think, from my perspective, it’s we have to be able to do it ourselves model it and then, I think it’s a more proven mechanism young people. I will say, like many companies … do believe that in-person collaboration is really important for learning. do have — we bring people into an office. If you’re remote, we folks to come in and spend time in a room their team, do social activities, all of those things. don’t think they will go away, nor do I think should. But, you know, candidly, it’s an area that don’t think we’ve really figured out perfectly and I think it’s critical that as leaders, we do that, so that next generation is able to get the same growth opportunities that we all had.
SM: Well, it’s interesting — the tools that you mentioned at the very beginning of conversation, around video, can be really helpful there. I’ve heard of a number of organizations that really encouraged their young people to present, as a way of having to go out and the information they need. And then, because we have video tools available to us now, you know, have an opportunity to share their ideas with a group of people, but first, kind of going through the fact-finding and research, and then sharing their ideas. In an earlier 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. During the Lives Matter protests, we had a lot of people coming to the feeling trauma, and feeling really personal issues bubble to surface. I’m wondering if you can share a little bit about you deal with this increasing personal — you know, people bring their whole selves to the office, which encourage, sometimes, they bring things, parts of themselves that are challenging.
AS: Yeah … I’ve always thought responsibility of a leader is to empower people to do their best work and responsibility of a company is to empower our people do 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, many companies, the way we initially probably sought to do 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, I — and empathy, just empathy. I think that’s really important. And I always say, to so many of managers … just care. If we just care, a lot things get easier. You don’t have to design a hundred mechanisms if you have the right people in place who care. At same time, I will say what we’re realizing now, in sort of next phase, is that that’s a reactive approach and actually the cause — that we can control at Vimeo — root cause of a lot of stress and burnout is sometimes people either don’t have … focus, we’re asking people to do too many things or don’t feel like they’re supported in doing those things. that, I think, is actually where we should be spending more time — is 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 equipped to solve it.” Then, we get into the “What is the detail there, and do we need do things differently?” And, you know, one of our at 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 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 cost” to “profitability,” you know, pendulum swing. My perspective on — and it hasn’t changed — I think the best and cultures deliver results and treat people well. And I think, if you treat people well, with kindness and empathy, you get better results. And so, you know, for me, think 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 it was lip service or we felt pressured. And that’s going to be sustainable. But that’s not what — ultimately, that’s not what people need, in case. So, you know, I sort of see it as — the way channel how you are caring towards your employees and how you empathetic, always should be in service of helping people their best work, which will deliver results, which will good for the bottom line. And you have to that. You have to be committed to that and if you use that consistently in your decision-making, should not be a trade-off. These are not mutually exclusive things.
SM: Anjali, how have you taking care of yourself during this period of tremendous turmoil and change, but also growth? You mentioned you had a baby. There’s a lot on your shoulders. How, as a leader, you practice some self-care or how do you make sure that you’re getting the balance you need be the most effective leader you can be?
AS: I think — recently, phrase 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 hard, and it’s gotten harder.” We went public at the height of the pandemic 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 have happened. And so, it’s a hard job, and it’s incredibly privileged job. It’s a gift, right? And so, I think for me, it’s sort of both of those things has helped me a lot. The way I’ve to kind of lead, has been — it’s always this way, which is, for me, it’s I have to have passion. I to have passion. I have to believe so deeply that what Vimeo is doing is important matters for the world. And if I have passion, I have energy then I will — I can kind of move through anything. I to find joy in my team. I feel like, especially hard times, I look back at my career and actually, some of my fulfilling times in work were when — in the 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, really big part of it. And then, yeah, like, have to be a little selfish sometimes, and take care of yourself. And I am really fortunate. think I have a great support network around me I do … My husband and I have a deal, on Sundays, I disappear for a couple of hours. I just disappear and walk around the city and I listen to my music 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 in office couple of days, work from home a couple of days. Tell us a little bit more about what you could potentially see that into.
AS: I think the idea of an office a time and place completely goes away. And I it’s really going to be people are going to to work from anywhere, anywhere in the world. Even the of where you’re located is 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 think that’s going to go away. And think what you’re going to find is more and more work, particularly from knowledge workers, is to be done anywhere, anytime. Communication and collaboration will happen asynchronously and we will be tools and 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, are going to look different. Because I think it’s going to require — you think about the skill set to be a global 30 years ago versus what that will require now — I think in the future … skill set is going to be like, “How do communicate with diverse, global audiences and employees across time zones a way that is effective, that provides context and 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. I think the ultimate thing you’ll see is just … there were these constraints that we’ve lived with, whether was time or place or budget, in some cases. And think those constraints are going to go away. And the promise is that if we are flexible and smart we use technology in the right way, that we’ll actually come away a more evolved and efficient workforce.
SM: Well, I think just showed us some of the passion that you’ve talked about as the thing that gives you energy to lead that organization 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, thank you so much for here today.
AS: Thank you. This was great.