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 lead a workforce of 1,300 people — you have creatives, you have finance people, you technologists. So I’m going to start with a really easy question: what was it like manage this diverse workforce through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning a very fraught return to office?
AS: Oh, it a breeze, Stephanie. No, it was really challenging. You know, think the only constant has been change. And as leader, you obviously — you have a workforce that’s looking for certainty, they’re looking to control what’s happening around them. And I think what all found, as leaders, no matter what company you were … responsible for, was you couldn’t offer certainty, and you couldn’t always control the environment and the around you. And so, you know, for me, it was really about agility. do we stay flexible as a team? How do we in real time and keep people informed as we try and move through things? 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 … who are on the front lines, who are literally at war. On the hand, you have people in different parts of the world who are mental-health challenges or burnout, and so I think it was really just — the 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 company, to build more trust, because to be agile and flexible, to lead with humanity, you have to trust each other. And so, I’m sort of optimistic that actually we’re from this time with a culture that is more flexible 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, that is muscle that you think you’ll continue to use in the organization far the future?
AS: There’s a couple of things that did. One — and we are a video platform, I obviously have to talk about video, but I mean this sincerely — one of hardest parts, when you’re all sort of disparate, is you lose 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, we were communicating, to do it with your face, and your and your body and your emotions. And we did that through live streaming a lot 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. new hire does 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 was allow the humanity and context to come through and I think that helped us a lot to, of, stay close. So that was one, I think, important thing.
Another important thing is, I think, just creating mechanisms to make it easier talk about when things aren’t working, because a critical part being 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 do in all of my town halls, we do it in a lot meetings — is always talk about what’s working, what are top three things, and what isn’t working — yet. And we’ve kind of created, think, a framework that sort of takes the stigma away from about what’s not working. And when you make that normalized and comfortable for people, I feel it’s allowed us to be more open, as an organization, about what do we need to change, what we 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 that advice about being video-first. So many of our of our workforce live in a video world. They’re used to video as 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 of Gen Z coming into the workplace?
AS: I think it’s incredibly different. And, you know, one the things that we think about at Vimeo a lot is a lot the mechanisms and communication modes that we still use today, they’re really antiquated. were designed for a totally different environment and a 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 — look at TikTok. This generation is used to content, learning, engaging, in a very specific way. And they then have to come to work and to trained on a job, read a 300-page manual? Like, it’s not going to happen, right? Or you miss the meeting, and you have to watch the Zoom recording of three-hour meeting — that’s just not going to happen. And so I think that there definitely sort of this — you know, we talk about the “consumerization of enterprise.” Those are fancy words for saying the way … we communicate interact in our personal lives is going to translate to work. so I definitely think that’s an area of opportunity.
The thing I see from sort of the generation, the newest generation into the workforce, is sort of, of course mission-driven, but I think there’s a desire to really understand “why” behind things. And one of our communication mantras is we never talk about the “what” the “why.” And I think there’s a desire to — the that, well, there’s a hierarchy, or “My boss told me that is what we’re going to do” or — that, think, is increasingly moving away, and people, they don’t just want to do because someone with formal authority told them to do it. They want to 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 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 younger generation — I think they’re for flexibility and they want options and choices. And it’s not easy and feasible to provide ultimate flexibility, but this is where try and 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 ways that you at Vimeo have tried to really proactive when it comes to addressing or understanding what next generation of employees are going to want, either in terms of purpose or in terms of benefits 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 the workforce?
AS: Firstly, of course, it’s all about listening, right? I think, like many organizations, the way we’ve tried listen and understand our workforce is very similar: it’s Q and and engagement surveys, and things like that. And some of the that we’ve done, we have a people and culture NPS, net score, the same way we have for our users, our internal teams. But I would say one of things that we’ve really tried to do is appreciate that we get inputs from our employees, 1,300 employees … you can’t at the averages. You can’t look at it all in totality and try and out an obvious “Oh, this is how everybody’s feeling.” Because what you actually — when you dig into it and truly listen and do focus groups talk to people — what you’ll find is actually there’s very different experiences and desires among your employees. so, I think for us, what we’ve really just tried to do is a bunch of different listening mechanisms and then resist the urge to conveniently pull, like, “Oh, this 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 the things that we’ve heard from employees have changed our approach to hybrid work or travel or even 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 understanding what’s happening, but not treating everything as, like, average or the same. And for us, it’s been stark because we have offices and teams in so many different and the 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 of consistency and fairness, and what we found is we have to be more localized. really do. We have to design mechanisms to support our teams in a different way, because their experiences and the world around them 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 of things, it not working, and changing them. And a great is our Q and A. I feel like every leader I know has a perspective on whether do open Q and A or anonymous Q and A, real-time Q and A. We’ve changed our approach there times, and I know we will again, because we’re still figuring out the right to listen and have a dialogue with a very workforce.
SM: I want to stay on newcomers to the workplace for just moment, because another thing I hear from CEOs of my generation and older is a concern about sure that we are not just providing our youngest employees with the flexibility and the purpose that need, but also the training and the wisdom that comes, oftentimes, being in close proximity to a mentor or to somebody who’s done job for many more years. What is your philosophy take on making sure that knowledge transfer is happening?
AS: I think it’s major challenge that I don’t know that everyone will sort of a solution for. I think about that all the time. have a very distributed workforce at Vimeo. We have in over eight countries. My executive team is entirely distributed. So I’ve really realized the benefits of being to have a distributed workforce and being able to attract talent and just be more inclusive. the flip side, there’s definitely, I think, a lack the same kinds of learning opportunities and mentorship, particularly for the youngest folks that are the workforce. So I think it’s a challenge. One of the that we’ve been taking, and what’s sort of nice, 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 the executive team 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 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? And so think, from my perspective, it’s more we have to be to do it ourselves and model it and then, I think it’s more proven mechanism for young people. I will say, like companies … I do believe that in-person collaboration is really important learning. We do have — we bring people into an office. If you’re remote, ask folks to come in and spend time in a room with their team, do social activities, all those things. I don’t think they will go away, nor do I 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 really critical that as leaders, do that, so that this next generation is able to get the same opportunities that we all had.
SM: Well, and it’s interesting — tools that you mentioned at the very beginning of conversation, around video, can be really helpful there. I’ve heard a number of organizations that have really encouraged their people to present, as a way of having to out and find 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 large of people, but first, kind of going through the fact-finding and research, and then sharing their ideas. In an earlier comment, talked a little bit about mental illness and the different things that people are bringing to work, it is, you know, exhaustion, burnout. During the Black Lives protests, we had a lot of people coming to the office trauma, and feeling really personal issues bubble to the surface. I’m wondering if you can a little bit about how you deal with this personal — you know, when people bring their whole selves 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 is to empower people to their best work and the responsibility of a company is to empower our people to do their 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 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 — and empathy, just empathy. I think that’s really important. I always say, to so many of our managers … just care. If we just care, a 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 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 things or they don’t feel like they’re supported in those things. And that, I think, is actually where we should be spending more time — is do we actually set the right prioritization and focus. There’s issue there, right? There’s a root cause there that’s a “Oh, I like I’m stressed because there’s too much going on. I don’t feel equipped solve it.” Then, we should get into the “What is the detail there, and we need to 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 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 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 the best leaders and cultures deliver results and treat people well. And I actually think, if you treat well, with kindness and empathy, you will get better results. so, you know, for me, I think what I observed over the few years is — that part, I think, hasn’t and shouldn’t change. There were, I think, a lot of times when companies, did things because maybe it was lip service or felt pressured. And that’s not going to be sustainable. that’s not what — ultimately, that’s not what people need, any case. So, you know, I sort of see it as — the way you channel you are caring towards your employees and how you are empathetic, always be in service of helping people do their best work, which will deliver results, will be good for the bottom line. And you have to believe that. You to be committed to that and if you use 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 mentioned just 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 can be true, both can be true.” I say a lot. And for me, I think of it as, like, “This is hard, and it’s gotten harder.” We went public at the of the pandemic and last year, market volatility has been tremendous. You know, we’re going through a ton with post-pandemic, we have a team in Ukraine through a war — all these things that have happened. And so, it’s a hard job, 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 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 to have passion. I have to believe so deeply that what Vimeo is doing is important and for the 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 team. I feel like, especially in hard times, I back at my career and actually, some of my most fulfilling times in work were when — in hardest business situations. But it’s because it brought a group of people together all one team, and so I think that’s been, you know, a really big part it. And then, yeah, like, you have to be little selfish sometimes, and take care of yourself. And I really fortunate. I think I have a great support network around me and I do … My and I have a deal, where on Sundays, I disappear a couple of hours. I just disappear and I walk the city and I listen to my music and do whatever I to do, and that’s really important.
SM: So you talked about how hybrid work is going to very different in the future than how we describe today. It’s basically in office a couple of days, work from home a couple other days. Tell us a little bit more about what could potentially see that evolving into.
AS: I think the idea of an office as a time and 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 is going to change. then the idea 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 to go away. And I think what you’re going to find is more more work, particularly from knowledge workers, is going to be anywhere, anytime. Communication and collaboration will happen asynchronously and will be using tools and technology — whether it’s video, whether it’s AI — basically enable that at scale among many people, anywhere in the world. And then I leadership, leaders are going to look different. Because I it’s going to require — if you think about the skill set to be global CEO 30 years ago versus what that will require now — I in the future … the skill set is going to like, “How do you communicate with diverse, global audiences and employees across time in 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 that is going to look very different. But I the ultimate thing you’ll see is just … there were constraints that we’ve lived with, whether it was time or place budget, in some cases. And I think those constraints are going to away. And the promise is that if we are flexible and smart and we use technology 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 being the thing that gives you energy to lead organization of 1,300 people worldwide. Anjali, thank you so much for being here today.
AS: Thank you. This great.