Stephanie Mehta: Welcome, Anjali. I’m glad you’re here with us today.
Anjali Sud: Thank you, is great to be here.
SM: At Vimeo, you lead workforce of 1,300 people worldwide — you have creatives, you have finance people, you have technologists. I’m going to start with a really easy question: what was it like to manage this workforce through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and a very return to office?
AS: Oh, it was a breeze, Stephanie. No, was really challenging. You know, I think the only constant been change. And as a leader, you obviously — you have a workforce that’s for certainty, and they’re looking to control what’s happening around them. And think what we all found, as leaders, no matter what company you were … for, was that you couldn’t offer certainty, and you couldn’t always the environment and the things around you. And so, know, for me, it was really about agility. How we stay flexible as a team? How do we communicate in real time and keep people as we try and move through things? And then, just how do we lead with more humanity? You know, Vimeo, one of the things I’ve really learned over the few years is we each experience the world so differently. have employees who are remote. We have an incredible in Ukraine … employees who are on the front lines, who literally at war. On the other hand, you have people different parts of the world who are experiencing mental-health challenges burnout, and so I think it was really just — hardest part was not being able to give everyone certainty, being able to just apply a one-size-fits-all rule for everyone. But I ultimately it forced us, as a company, to build more trust, because be agile and flexible, and to lead with humanity, you have to each other. And so, I’m sort of optimistic that actually we’re from this time with a culture that is more flexible and nimble, and also, hopefully, has trust.
SM: Can you give an example of something that you put place, perhaps during the pandemic, to enhance communications or build trust or create a sense of community or even to communicate that there is certainty, that is a muscle that you think you’ll continue use in the organization far into the future?
AS: There’s couple of things that we did. One — and we are a video platform, so I obviously to talk about video, but I mean this sincerely — one of the hardest parts, when you’re all sort disparate, is you lose context and you lose nuance when you communicate. And we make a concerted effort to move away from email and chat, text-based communication, as 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. And did that through live streaming a lot of communications, recording 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 and introduce themselves. lot 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 us a lot to, kind of, stay close. So that was one, I think, really important thing.
Another thing is, I think, just creating mechanisms to make it to talk about when things aren’t working, because a critical of being agile is recognizing we have an area that isn’t working. so one of the things that we do at Vimeo we try — I do this in all of town halls, we do it in a lot of meetings — always talk about what’s working, what are our top three things, and what isn’t working — yet. we’ve kind of created, I think, a framework that sort of takes the away from talking about what’s not working. And when you make that and comfortable for people, I feel like it’s allowed to be more open, as an organization, about what do need to change, what do we need to pivot. And of those, being more video-first in our communication and being transparent and normalizing what’s not working, I think has really helpful, and certainly something we’re carrying forward.
SM: I love that advice about video-first. So many of our members of our workforce live in a world. They’re used to video as a means of communication. Which brings me to my next question. You’ve talked how the organization has changed. How do you see the workforce changing? What different with the young millennials, and even, now, the wave of Gen Z coming into the workplace?
AS: I think it’s incredibly different. And, know, one of the things that we think about at Vimeo a is a lot of the mechanisms and communication modes that we still use today, they’re antiquated. They were designed for a totally different environment and a different generation. But I see a lot of differences. of them, I think, is the line between your personal life and work life definitely blending. … If you think about your personal — look at TikTok. This generation is used to consuming content, learning, engaging, in very specific way. And if they then have to come to work and be trained on a job, read a 300-page manual? Like, it’s going to happen, right? Or if you miss the meeting, and you have watch the Zoom recording of a three-hour meeting — that’s just not going happen. And so I think that there is definitely sort this — you know, we talk about the “consumerization enterprise.” Those are just fancy words for saying the … we communicate and interact in our personal lives is going to translate to work. And so I think that’s an area of opportunity.
The other thing see from sort of the generation, the newest generation coming into workforce, is sort of, of course mission-driven, but I think there’s a desire to understand the “why” behind things. And one of our communication mantras is we never talk the “what” without the “why.” And I think there’s a to — the idea that, well, there’s a hierarchy, “My boss told me that this is what we’re to do” or — that, I think, is increasingly moving away, and people, don’t just want to do something because someone with formal authority told them do it. They want to do it because they understand why it matters, it 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 things I see, and then, you know, third I think is just flexibility. I think — this is true of all of us, but particularly the generation — I think they’re looking for flexibility and they want options and choices. it’s not always easy and feasible to 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 to question, and when actually pivot?
SM: Yeah. Anjali, can you share a few examples of ways that at Vimeo have tried to really be proactive when comes to addressing or understanding what your next generation of employees are to want, either in terms of purpose or in terms of benefits or in terms flexibility? Are there programs or processes you’ve put in place that speak to this big sea change we’re seeing in terms 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 and understand our 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, net promoter score, the same way have for our users, for our internal teams. But I say one of the things that we’ve really tried to do is appreciate that when get inputs from our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t at the averages. You can’t look at it all in and try and pull out an obvious “Oh, this is everybody’s feeling.” Because what you actually — when you dig into it and truly listen and do focus and talk to people — what you’ll find is actually there’s very different experiences and desires among employees. And so, I think for us, what we’ve really just tried to 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 tell you, some of the things we’ve heard from employees have changed our approach to hybrid or travel or even things like our approach to compensation or our approach to DE I. So I think it’s more just like I said, that agile listening, constantly really what’s happening, but not treating everything as, like, an average or the same. And for us, it’s been particularly because we have 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 we to have a very, sort of, “One Vimeo” global approach in the name of consistency and fairness, and what found is we have to be more localized. We do. We have to design mechanisms to support our 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 — it’s involved a lot of trying things, it not working, and changing them. And a great is our Q and A. I feel like every I know has a perspective on whether they do open and A or anonymous Q and A, or real-time Q A. We’ve changed our approach there multiple times, and I know we will again, we’re still figuring out the right way to listen and a dialogue with a very diverse workforce.
SM: I want to stay on newcomers to the for just another moment, because another thing I hear from CEOs of my generation and older is a about making sure that we are not just providing youngest employees with the flexibility and the purpose that they need, but also the training the wisdom that comes, oftentimes, from being in close to a mentor or to somebody who’s done the job many more years. What is your philosophy and take on making that knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: I think it’s a major challenge that don’t know that everyone will sort of have a solution for. I 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 distributed workforce and being able to attract talent and just be more inclusive. the flip side, there’s definitely, I think, a lack of the kinds of learning opportunities and mentorship, particularly for the youngest folks that entering the workforce. So I think it’s a challenge. One of approaches that we’ve been 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 to provide real-time feedback, mentorship and development for a set of new executives who have just joined. We have sort of changed up the executive almost entirely in the last twelve months. So I’ve had to deal with same challenges. And we’ve had to literally — we 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 create the right communication loops? And so think, from my perspective, it’s more we have to be able to do ourselves and model it and then, I think it’s more proven mechanism for young people. I will say, like many companies … I do believe that in-person is really important for learning. We do have — we bring 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 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 it’s really critical that as leaders, we do that, that this next generation is able to get the growth 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 of organizations that have really encouraged their young people to present, as a of having to go out and find the information they need. And then, because we have tools available to us now, you know, they have opportunity to share their ideas with a large group of people, but first, of going through the fact-finding and the research, and then their ideas. In an earlier comment, you talked a 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 people coming to the office feeling trauma, and feeling really personal issues bubble the surface. I’m wondering if you can share a bit about how you deal with this increasing personal — you know, people bring their whole selves to the office, which we encourage, sometimes, they bring things, parts themselves that are challenging.
AS: Yeah … I’ve always thought responsibility of a leader is to empower people to do their best work the responsibility of a company is to empower our to do their best work. And so, of course, we have a role to play in supporting things like mental-health issues burnout. And, you know, the way I think, like many companies, the way we probably sought to do that was more, you know, you’re seeing a problem and you’re reacting by trying to mental-health resources or support or time off. And, I think — and empathy, empathy. I think that’s really important. And I always say, to so many our managers … just care. If we just care, a lot of things get easier. You don’t have design a hundred mechanisms if you just have the right people in place who care. the same time, I will say what we’re realizing now, sort of this next phase, is that that’s a reactive approach and the root cause — that we can control at Vimeo — the root cause a lot of stress and burnout is sometimes 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 where we should be spending more time — is how do 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 stressed because there’s too much on. I don’t feel equipped to solve it.” Then, we get into the “What is the detail there, and do need to do things differently?” And, you know, one of our themes Vimeo this year was “Do less, better.”
SM: As the economy starts to, maybe, move sideways, do you that there are going to be stakeholders who say, know, “Out with all of this touchy-feely, the workplace-as-a-family stuff. Where are results?”
AS: Absolutely. I think the pendulum has already swung clearly. I mean, I work in SAS, software as service, so we already went from “growth at all cost” “profitability,” you know, pendulum swing. My perspective on this — 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 and shouldn’t change. were, I think, a lot of times when companies, we did because maybe it was lip service or we 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 you channel how you are caring towards your employees how you are empathetic, always should be in service of helping people do their work, which will deliver results, which will be good for the line. And you have to believe that. You have be committed to that and if you use that consistently in your decision-making, it should be a trade-off. These are not mutually exclusive things.
SM: Anjali, how have been taking care of yourself during this period of turmoil and change, but also growth? You mentioned you had a baby. There’s a lot on your shoulders. How, as leader, do you practice some self-care or how do you make sure that you’re getting balance 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 gotten harder.” We 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 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 tried to kind lead, has been — it’s always been this way, which is, me, it’s I have to have passion. I have have passion. I have to believe so deeply that what is doing is important and matters for the world. And if have passion, I have energy and then I will — I kind of move through anything. I have to find joy my team. I feel like, especially in hard times, I look back at my career actually, some of my most fulfilling times in work were — in the hardest business situations. But it’s because it brought a group of together all on one team, and so I think that’s been, you know, a big part of it. And then, yeah, like, you to be a little selfish sometimes, and take care yourself. And I 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, disappear for a couple 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 talked about how work is going to look very different in the future than how describe it today. It’s basically in office a couple of days, work from a couple of other days. Tell us a little more about what you could potentially see that evolving into.
AS: I think idea of an office as a time and place completely goes away. And I think it’s really going to 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 attend this meeting that’s scheduled this date” — I think that’s going to go away. And I what you’re going to find is more and more work, particularly from workers, is going to be done anywhere, anytime. Communication and will happen asynchronously and we will be using tools technology — whether it’s video, whether it’s AI — to basically enable that at scale among people, anywhere in the world. And then I think leadership, leaders are going look different. Because I think it’s going to require — if you think about the skill to be a global CEO 30 years ago versus what that will require now — I in the future … the skill set is going to be like, “How do you communicate diverse, global audiences and employees across time zones in a way that is effective, that provides context alignment at scale? How do you organize programs, whether it’s compensation, whether it’s, you know, training?” All of is going to look very different. But I think the ultimate thing you’ll see is just … there these constraints that we’ve lived with, whether it was time or place budget, in some cases. And I think those constraints are going to go away. And the promise that if we are flexible and smart and we use in the right way, that we’ll actually come away much more evolved and efficient workforce.
SM: Well, I think just showed us some of the passion that you’ve talked about being the thing that gives you energy to lead that of 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, thank you so much for being here today.
AS: Thank you. was great.