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 easy question: what was it to manage this diverse workforce through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning a very fraught return to office?
AS: Oh, it was 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, and they’re looking control what’s happening around them. And I think what we all found, as leaders, no what company you were … responsible for, was that you couldn’t offer certainty, you couldn’t always control the environment and 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 more humanity? You know, for Vimeo, of the things I’ve really learned over the last few years we each experience the world so differently. We have employees are remote. We have an incredible team in Ukraine … employees who are on the front lines, who literally at war. On the other hand, you have people in parts of the world who are experiencing mental-health challenges or burnout, and so I think it really just — the hardest 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 it forced us, as a company, build more trust, because to be agile and flexible, and to lead with humanity, have to trust each other. And so, I’m sort of optimistic that actually we’re emerging from this time 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 the pandemic, to enhance communications or build trust or create a greater sense 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 the future?
AS: There’s couple of things that we did. One — and are a video platform, so I obviously have to 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 when you communicate. And we did make a concerted effort to move away from and chat, text-based communication, as much as possible, and actually try, for our leadership team, when we were communicating, to do it with your face, and your and your body and your emotions. And we did through live streaming a lot of communications, recording a lot videos. We sent asynchronous video messages. So I send … I my screen and just send a note out to people. new hire does a video to welcome and introduce themselves. A of our meetings we’ve actually replaced with just quick presentations. And actually, what that really did was allow the humanity the context to come through and I think that helped us a to, kind of, stay close. So that was one, I think, really important thing.
Another important is, I think, just creating mechanisms to make it easier to talk about when things aren’t working, because 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 this in all of my town halls, we do it in lot of meetings — is 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 that sort of takes the stigma away from talking about what’s not working. And you make that normalized and comfortable for people, I feel like it’s allowed us to more open, as an organization, about what do we need to change, what we need to pivot. And both of those, being video-first in our communication and being more transparent and what’s not working, I think has been really helpful, and something we’re carrying forward.
SM: I love that advice being video-first. So many of our members of our workforce live in a video world. They’re used to 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? is different with the young millennials, and even, now, the first wave of Gen Z coming the workplace?
AS: I think it’s incredibly different. And, you know, one of the things that we think at Vimeo a lot is a lot of the mechanisms communication modes that we still use today, they’re really antiquated. They were designed for a totally different and a totally different generation. But I see a lot of differences. One them, I think, is the line between your personal life and work is definitely blending. … If you think about your personal life — look at TikTok. generation 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 if you the meeting, and you have to watch the Zoom of a three-hour meeting — that’s just not going to happen. And I 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 our personal lives is going to translate to work. And so definitely think that’s an area of opportunity.
The other thing I from sort of the generation, the newest generation coming the workforce, is sort of, of course mission-driven, but think there’s a desire to really understand the “why” behind things. And one our communication mantras is we never talk about the “what” without the “why.” And I there’s a desire to — the idea that, well, there’s a hierarchy, “My boss told me that this is what we’re going 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 it they understand why it matters, why it ties to mission. And I think that that forces 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 just flexibility. I think — and this is true of all of us, particularly the younger generation — I think they’re looking for flexibility and they want options choices. And it’s not always easy and feasible to provide ultimate flexibility, but this is where try and orient it more to agility. How can we approaches and principles and be committed to things, but also when to 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 comes to or understanding what your next generation of employees 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 big sea change we’re in terms of values from the workforce?
AS: Firstly, of course, it’s all about listening, right? I think, like many organizations, the way we’ve tried to listen and our workforce is very similar: it’s Q and As and surveys, and things like that. And some of the things that we’ve done, we a people and culture NPS, net promoter score, the way we have for our users, for our internal teams. But I would one of the things that we’ve really tried to do is that when we get inputs from our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t look the averages. You can’t look at it all in and try and pull out an obvious “Oh, this is how everybody’s feeling.” Because what you actually — you really dig into it and truly listen and focus groups and talk to people — what you’ll find is actually there’s very different experiences and among your employees. And so, I think for us, what we’ve just tried to do is have a bunch of different listening and then resist the urge to conveniently pull, like, “Oh, this is what everyone’s feeling, let’s just do thing as the action.” And it’s hard, and we’re still kind of it out, but I will tell you, some of the that we’ve heard from employees have changed our approach to hybrid work or travel or things like our approach to compensation or our approach to DE and I. So I think it’s just like I said, that agile listening, constantly really understanding what’s happening, but not treating as, like, an average or the 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 to have a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach the name of consistency and fairness, and what we is we have to be more localized. We really do. We have to mechanisms to support our teams in a very different way, because their experiences and the world them is quite different.
So I think that’s definitely one, and I will tell you, it has involved lot of — as an executive team and leadership team — it’s involved a of trying things, it not working, and changing them. And great example is our Q and A. I feel like every leader I know a perspective on whether they do open Q and or 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 listen and have a dialogue with a very diverse workforce.
SM: I want to stay newcomers to the workplace for just another moment, because thing I hear from CEOs of my generation and is a concern about making sure that we are not just providing our employees with the flexibility and the purpose that they need, but the training and the wisdom that comes, oftentimes, from being in close proximity a mentor or to somebody who’s done the job for many more years. What is your philosophy take on making sure that knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: think it’s a major challenge 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 benefits of being able to have a 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 of learning opportunities mentorship, particularly for the youngest folks that are entering the workforce. So I think it’s a challenge. of the approaches that we’ve been taking, and what’s of nice, is we’re modeling it at the top. So if entire executive team is distributed, that means I have to learn 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 literally — we call it our operating system — we’ve had to an operating system, as an 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 communication loops? so I think, from my perspective, it’s more we to be able to do it ourselves and model and then, I think it’s a more proven mechanism for young people. will say, like many companies … I do believe that in-person collaboration is important for learning. We do have — we bring people an office. If you’re remote, we ask folks to come in and spend time in a room with team, do social activities, all of those things. I don’t think they will go away, nor do I they should. But, you know, candidly, it’s an area I don’t think we’ve really figured out perfectly and think it’s really critical that as leaders, we do that, that this next generation is able to get the same opportunities that we all had.
SM: Well, and it’s — the tools that you mentioned at the very beginning our conversation, around video, can be really helpful there. I’ve heard of a number of organizations that have 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, know, they have an opportunity to share their ideas with a group of people, but first, kind of going through the fact-finding and the research, then sharing their ideas. In an earlier comment, you talked little bit about mental illness and the different things that are bringing to work, whether it is, you know, exhaustion, burnout. During Black Lives Matter protests, we had a lot of people coming to office feeling trauma, and feeling really personal issues bubble the surface. I’m wondering if you can share a little bit about how you deal with this personal — you know, when people bring their whole to the office, which we encourage, sometimes, they bring things, parts of themselves that challenging.
AS: Yeah … I’ve always thought the responsibility of a leader to empower people to do their best work and the responsibility of a company to empower 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 way I think, many companies, the way we initially probably sought to do that was more, know, you’re seeing a problem and you’re reacting by trying provide mental-health resources or support or time off. And, I think — empathy, just empathy. I think that’s really important. And I always say, to many of our managers … just care. If we just care, lot of things get easier. You don’t have to design a hundred mechanisms if you just the right people in place who care. At the same time, I will say what we’re realizing now, sort of this next phase, is that that’s a reactive and actually the root cause — that we can control Vimeo — the root cause of a lot of and burnout is sometimes people either don’t have enough … focus, we’re people to do too many things or they don’t like they’re supported in doing those things. And that, think, is actually where we should be spending more time — is how do we actually set right prioritization 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 too much on. I don’t feel equipped to solve it.” Then, should get into the “What is the detail there, and do we need do things differently?” And, you know, one of our themes at this year was “Do less, better.”
SM: As the starts to, maybe, move sideways, do 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 my results?”
AS: Absolutely. I think the pendulum has swung pretty clearly. I mean, I work in SAS, software as a service, so we went from “growth at all cost” to “profitability,” you know, pendulum swing. perspective on this — and it hasn’t changed — I think the leaders and cultures deliver results and treat people well. And I think, if you treat people well, with kindness and empathy, you will get better results. And so, know, for me, I think what I observed over the last few years is — part, I think, hasn’t changed and shouldn’t change. There were, I think, a lot times when companies, we did things because maybe it was lip service we felt pressured. And that’s not going to be sustainable. that’s not what — ultimately, that’s not what people need, in case. So, you know, I sort of see it — the way you channel how you are caring your employees and how you are 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 believe that. have to be committed to that and if you that consistently in your decision-making, it should not be a trade-off. These are 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 you just had baby. There’s a lot on your shoulders. How, as a leader, do you some self-care or how do you make sure that you’re getting the balance need to be the most effective leader you can 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 for me, I of it 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 through a ton post-pandemic, we have a team in Ukraine going through a — all these things that have happened. And so, it’s a job, and it’s an incredibly privileged job. It’s a gift, right? And so, I think for me, it’s sort acknowledging 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. have to have passion. I have to believe so that what Vimeo is doing is important and matters for the world. if I have passion, I have energy and then I will — I can kind move through anything. I have to find joy in my team. I like, especially in hard times, I look back at my career and actually, of my most fulfilling times in work were when — in the business situations. But it’s because it brought a group of people together all on one team, and 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 yourself. And I am really fortunate. I think I have a great support around me and I do … My husband and I have a deal, where on Sundays, I for a couple of hours. I just disappear and I walk the city and I listen to my music and do I need to do, and that’s really important.
SM: So you about how hybrid work is going to look very different in the future than how we it today. It’s basically in office a couple of days, work from home couple of other days. Tell us a little bit more what you could potentially see that evolving into.
AS: I think idea of an office as a time and place completely away. And I think it’s really going to be people going to want to work from anywhere, anywhere in the world. Even the concept where you’re located is going to change. And then the of like “I’m going to work on this time zone” or “I’m going to this meeting that’s scheduled on this date” — I think that’s going to away. And I think what you’re going to find more and more work, particularly from knowledge workers, is to be done anywhere, anytime. Communication and collaboration will happen and we will be using tools and technology — whether it’s video, whether it’s — to basically 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 skill set to be a global CEO 30 years ago what that will require now — I think in the future … the skill set going to be like, “How do you communicate with diverse, global audiences and employees across zones in a way that is effective, that provides context and at scale? How do you organize programs, whether it’s compensation, whether it’s, you know, training?” All of that going to look very different. But I think the 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. I think those constraints are going to go away. And promise is 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 some of the passion you’ve talked about as being the thing that gives you energy lead that organization of 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, thank you so much being here today.
AS: Thank you. This was great.