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 a workforce of 1,300 people worldwide — you have creatives, you have people, you have technologists. So I’m going to start with a easy question: what was it like to manage this diverse workforce a global pandemic, a racial reckoning and a very fraught to office?
AS: Oh, it was a breeze, Stephanie. No, it was challenging. You know, I think the only constant has been change. And a leader, you obviously — you have a workforce that’s for certainty, and they’re looking to control what’s happening them. And I think what we all found, as leaders, no matter company you were … responsible 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 do we flexible as a team? How do we communicate in real and keep people informed as we try and move through things? And then, also how do we lead with more humanity? You know, for Vimeo, one of the things I’ve really learned the last few years is we each experience the so differently. We have employees who are remote. We an incredible team in Ukraine … employees who are on front lines, who are literally at war. On the other hand, you people in different parts of the world who are experiencing mental-health or burnout, and so I think it was really just — the hardest part was not being able give everyone certainty, not being able to just apply a one-size-fits-all rule for everyone. I ultimately think it forced us, as a company, to build more trust, because to agile and flexible, and to lead with humanity, you to trust each other. And so, I’m sort of optimistic that actually we’re emerging this time with a culture that is more flexible and nimble, and also, hopefully, more 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 greater of community or even to communicate that there is certainty, that is a muscle that you think you’ll continue to use the organization far into the future?
AS: There’s a 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 parts, when you’re all sort of disparate, is you lose context and you lose nuance you communicate. And we did make a concerted effort to away from email and chat, text-based communication, as much as possible, and try, particularly for our leadership team, when we were communicating, to do it with your face, and your hands your body and your emotions. And we did that through streaming a lot of communications, recording a lot of videos. We sent asynchronous video messages. So I … I record my screen and just send a note out to people. Every new hire a video to welcome and introduce themselves. A lot of meetings we’ve actually replaced with just quick video presentations. actually, what that really did was allow the humanity the context to come through and I think that helped us a lot to, kind of, close. So that was one, I think, really important thing.
Another thing is, I think, just creating mechanisms to make it easier to talk about when things aren’t working, a critical part of being agile is recognizing we an area that isn’t working. And so one of the things that 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 our top three things, and what isn’t working — yet. we’ve kind of created, I think, a framework that sort of the stigma away from 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 to change, what do we need to pivot. And of those, being more video-first in our communication and more transparent and normalizing what’s not working, I think has really helpful, and certainly something we’re carrying forward.
SM: I that advice about being video-first. So many of our members our workforce live in a video world. They’re used 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 different with the millennials, and even, now, the first wave of Gen Z into the workplace?
AS: I think it’s incredibly different. And, you know, one of things that we think about at Vimeo a lot is lot of the mechanisms and communication modes that we still today, they’re really antiquated. They were designed for a totally environment and a totally different generation. But I see a of differences. One of them, I think, is the line between your personal and work life is definitely blending. … If you 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 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 to happen. And so I that there is definitely sort of this — you know, we talk about the “consumerization of enterprise.” Those just fancy words for saying the way … we communicate and interact in our lives is going to translate to work. And so definitely think that’s an area of opportunity.
The other I 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 really understand the “why” behind things. And one of our communication is we never talk about the “what” without the “why.” And think 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 someone with formal told them to do it. They want to do it because they understand why it matters, why it to the mission. And I think that that forces leaders to bring more of the “why” into how we communicate and motivate people.
So those are two the things I see, and then, you know, the third I is just flexibility. I think — and this is true of all of us, particularly the younger generation — I think they’re looking flexibility and they want options and choices. And it’s not always easy and feasible to ultimate flexibility, but this is where I try and orient it more agility. How can we have approaches and principles and be committed to things, but also know to question, and when to actually pivot?
SM: Yeah. Anjali, you share a few examples of ways that you at Vimeo tried to really be proactive when it comes to addressing or understanding what your next generation employees are going to want, either in terms of or in terms of benefits or in terms of flexibility? Are there programs processes you’ve put in place that really speak to this sea change we’re seeing in terms of values from the workforce?
AS: Firstly, course, it’s all about listening, right? And I think, like many organizations, the way we’ve tried to listen understand our workforce is very similar: it’s Q and As engagement 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 we have for users, for our internal teams. But I would say one of the things that we’ve tried to do is appreciate that when we get inputs our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t look at the averages. You can’t look at it all totality and try and pull out an obvious “Oh, this is how everybody’s feeling.” Because what actually — 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 experiences and desires among your employees. And so, I think for us, what we’ve 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, of 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 as, like, an average or the same. And for us, it’s particularly stark because we have offices and teams in many different countries and the differences, they’re substantial. They’re substantial, about the way we solve different things. And we used to have a very, of, “One Vimeo” global approach in the name of consistency fairness, and what we found is we have to more localized. We really do. We have to design mechanisms to our teams in a very different way, because their experiences and the world around them quite different.
So I think that’s definitely been one, and I will tell you, it has involved lot of — as an executive team and leadership team — it’s involved lot of trying things, it not working, and changing them. And a great example is our Q A. I feel like every leader I know has 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 a dialogue with a very diverse workforce.
SM: I want to stay on newcomers to workplace for just another moment, because another thing I 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 proximity a mentor or to somebody who’s done the job many more years. What is your philosophy and take on making sure knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: I think it’s a major challenge that don’t know that everyone will sort of have a for. I think about that all the time. We have very distributed workforce 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 talent and just be more inclusive. On the flip side, there’s definitely, think, a lack of the same kinds of learning opportunities and mentorship, particularly for the youngest folks are entering the workforce. So I think it’s a challenge. One of the approaches that we’ve been taking, what’s sort of nice, is we’re modeling it at the top. if my entire executive team is distributed, that means I to learn how to provide real-time feedback, mentorship and for a whole set of new executives who have joined. We have sort of changed up the executive almost entirely in the last twelve months. So I’ve to deal with the same challenges. And we’ve had to literally — we call it our operating — we’ve had to design an operating system, as an executive team, how we’re going to work together in that environment. do we share real-time feedback? How do we create right 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 for young people. I will say, like many companies … I do that in-person collaboration is really important for learning. We do have — bring people into an office. If you’re remote, we ask folks to come and 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 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 this next generation is able to get same growth opportunities that we all had.
SM: Well, it’s interesting — the tools that you mentioned at very beginning of our conversation, around video, can be helpful there. I’ve heard of a number of organizations that have really encouraged their people to present, as a way of having to go out find the information they need. And then, because we video tools available to us now, you know, they have an opportunity to their ideas with a large group of people, but first, kind of going through 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 Black Lives Matter protests, we had a lot of coming to the 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 selves to the office, 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 their best work and the responsibility of a company to empower our people to do their best work. so, of course, we have a real role to play in supporting things like mental-health or burnout. And, you know, the way I think, like many companies, the way initially probably sought to do that was more, you know, you’re seeing problem and you’re reacting by trying to provide mental-health resources support or time off. And, I think — and empathy, just empathy. think that’s really important. And I always say, to many of our managers … just care. If we just care, a lot of things get easier. don’t have to design a hundred mechanisms if you just have the right people place who care. At the same time, I will say we’re realizing now, in sort of this next phase, is that that’s a reactive and actually the root cause — that we can control at Vimeo — the root cause of a lot stress and burnout is sometimes people either don’t have … focus, we’re asking people to do too many things or they don’t feel like they’re in doing those things. And that, I think, is actually where we should be more time — is how do we actually set the right 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 going on. I don’t feel equipped to solve it.” Then, we should get into the “What the detail there, and do we 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, 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. My perspective this — and it hasn’t changed — I think the best and cultures deliver results and treat people well. And actually think, if you treat people well, with kindness and empathy, will get better results. And so, you know, for me, think what I observed over the last few years — that 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 lip service or we felt pressured. And that’s not going be sustainable. But that’s not what — ultimately, that’s not what people need, any case. So, you know, I sort of see it — the way you channel how you are caring towards your employees how you are empathetic, always should be in service helping people do their best work, which will deliver results, which be good for the bottom line. And you have to that. You have to be committed to that and you use that consistently in your decision-making, it should not be a trade-off. are not mutually exclusive things.
SM: Anjali, how have you been taking care of yourself during this of tremendous turmoil and change, but also growth? You you just had a baby. There’s a lot on your shoulders. How, a leader, do you practice some self-care or how do you make that you’re getting the balance you need to be the most effective you can be?
AS: I think — recently, the phrase I use a to myself is “two things can be true, both can be true.” I this a lot. And for me, I think of it as, like, “This job hard, and it’s gotten harder.” We went public at the height the pandemic and last year, market volatility has been tremendous. You know, we’re obviously going through a ton post-pandemic, we have a team in Ukraine going through a war — 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 me, it’s sort of acknowledging both of those things has me a 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 have passion. I have to passion. I have to believe so deeply that what Vimeo is doing is and matters for the world. And if I have passion, have energy and then I will — I can kind 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 most fulfilling times in work were when — in hardest business situations. But it’s because it brought a of people together all on one team, and so 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. I am really fortunate. I think I have a great network around me and I do … My husband and I have a deal, on Sundays, I disappear for a couple of hours. I just disappear and I walk around city and I listen to my music and do whatever I need to do, that’s really important.
SM: So you talked about how work is going to look very different in the than how we describe it today. It’s basically in a couple of days, work from home a 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 are going to want to from anywhere, anywhere in the world. Even the concept of you’re located is going to change. And then the of like “I’m going to work on this time zone” “I’m going to attend this meeting that’s scheduled on this date” — I that’s going to go away. And I think what you’re going to find is more and work, particularly from knowledge workers, is going to be done anywhere, anytime. Communication and collaboration will happen asynchronously we will be using tools and technology — whether it’s video, it’s AI — to basically enable that at scale many people, anywhere in the world. And then I think leadership, leaders are going to different. Because I think it’s going to require — if you think the skill set to be a global CEO 30 years versus what that will require now — I think the future … the skill set is going to like, “How do you communicate with diverse, global audiences and employees across time zones in way that is effective, that provides context and alignment 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 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 and we use technology in the right way, that we’ll actually come away much more evolved and efficient workforce.
SM: Well, I think you just showed us of the passion that you’ve talked about as 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.