I recently came across Canva’s Be a Good Human policy. At first glance, it felt almost too simple; something you’d expect on a school poster, not in the culture code of a multi-billion-dollar company. But the more I read, the clearer it became: this isn’t sentiment. It’s strategy.
Empathy, when embedded in culture, isn’t just about being nice. It builds trust, speeds decisions, and creates resilience that sustains growth even when markets wobble. Canva has managed to codify what many leaders only talk about: success flows more easily when people feel genuinely respected and supported.
Empathy as Infrastructure
Most organizations treat empathy as an individual trait, something you hope your managers have or encourage through coaching. Canva does it differently: empathy is designed into systems.
- Onboarding with connection. New hires join in cohorts, are paired with buddies, and managers act as coaches. Belonging is intentional from day one.
- Privacy as respect. Customer content isn’t used to train AI unless people opt in . Empathy turned into policy.
- Inclusion as standard. Reworked job descriptions, bias-aware recruitment, and representation targets have steadily grown women and non-binary leaders.
These aren’t perks. They’re structural signals: this is how we do things here. Culture doesn’t rely on chance encounters or a few charismatic leaders. Why Empathy Pays
There’s a tendency to dismiss empathy as soft. The data suggests otherwise.
- Performance. Catalyst found that employees with empathetic leaders report 61% higher innovation and 76% more engagement.
- Retention. A McKinsey study showed that toxic culture is 10.4 times more predictive of attrition than pay. Empathy actively counters toxicity.
- Resilience. Gallup reports employees who feel cared for are 3.2 times more likely to stay during stress, reducing churn costs.
Empathy, in other words, is a competitive edge. Trust reduces friction, decisions happen faster, and innovation thrives when people feel safe taking risks.
Leaders as Amplifiers
Canva develops leaders through its Leadership Academy, training managers not as taskmasters but as coaches. Coaching leaders listen, reflect, and expand capacity. They prove that performance doesn’t need to come at the expense of humanity.
When leaders model empathy, it cascades. Teams mirror it in collaboration, problem-solving, and resilience. The payoff is collective: a culture where employees bring their best selves because they trust the system around them.
Culture That Leaks Outward
Culture doesn’t stay within office walls. It shows up in the product. Canva’s interface is famously intuitive — supportive, not intimidating. That’s no accident. The empathy embedded internally seeps into design and user experience.
Customers may never know Canva’s onboarding rituals or leadership training, but they feel the outcome each time they interact with the product.
The Leadership Lesson
Too often, empathy is reduced to a soft skill box on performance reviews. Canva shows it can be codified into systems, embedded in decision-making, and measured in outcomes like trust, retention, and loyalty.
The lesson is simple , and in our work, we have seen this doing wonders for teams and organisations: empathy works best when it isn’t left to chance. Built into the culture code, it speeds execution, strengthens resilience, and creates products people love.
Empathy, in other words, is infrastructure—and infrastructure scales.
If you’re ready to unlock the power of empathy within your leadership or organisation, connect with us at The Core Questin. Visit our website to explore our programs, or reach out directly — we’d love to start a conversation on how empathy can become the infrastructure of your success.
