Want to be a leader? 9 tips, from a young and “unapologetically ambitious” CEO

Anjali Sud, 37, is the CEO of Vimeo, a global video posting and sharing platform with over 850 employees, 200 million users and a staggering 350,000 videos added every single day. Here is some advice on how you can get to the corner office from where you are.

To be a leader, you need to know that you want to lead

You need to be comfortable being quite explicit about your career

• A lot of people feel like they need formal authority to lead, but the best leaders and best CEOs in the world don’t ever rely on formal authority
• We should celebrate people that want more

Want to bring everyone along with you? Keep it simple

Once you have the message down, be consistent and repeat it.

• Documentation is vital, having all of the information in a portal that everyone can experience and use is key.
• Once others adopt the framework, it starts to become part of the vernacular of the company.

Know what you mean by leadership

Understand yourself, your motivations and your skill sets, then you have to try and map that to what the business needs

• Many people don’t want to manage large teams, but feel they have to in order to move up in the company
• You just have to understand yourself

Get ready to switch from “doer” to “enabler”

Bringing in excellent folks is good for the business, but you can’t do more unless you’re empowering those around you

• Shift your mindset
• Set a vision, set clear expectations, and allocate resources so that people are set up for success

It’s possible to lead without having a formal leadership role

You have to influence and develop relationships with people such that they will listen to you even though you may have no business having a perspective on something.

• Earlier in your career, develop this skill set when you can’t rely on formal authority.

Surround yourself with excellent people

Build people around you who are experts that are better than you, who don’t agree with you all the time, and who bring experiences that you might find intimidating or not agree with.

• As a leader, you have to make it really easy and comfortable for people to call you out when you’re wrong.

The more power you hold, the more accountable and approachable you need to be

Make it easy and comfortable for people to call you out when you’re wrong

• Find ways and feedback mechanisms to catch blindspots
• Empathy and understanding lead to innovation and engineering our vehicles to a higher standard

Protect your performance

Develop a reputation internally for being good at your job

• This gives credibility, allows you to earn trust, and opens opportunities for you to take on informal leadership roles in the future
• People who care about the development of their peers share feedback in a way that is meant to be helpful

Deliverive feedback

Leadership is empowering people to do their best work and driving positive outcomes

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