In this episode of Global Chats, host Mark Watkins sits down with Caitlin Gleeson, Global Leadership Development Lead at Canva, to explore how a global company maintains its pace and culture while scaling to over 5,000 people.

Caitlin shares how Canva has moved beyond traditional management to a model where the interface for leadership is coaching—an approach built on democratizing growth, protecting focus, and mastering the art of ‘handing over your Legos’.

Key conversation points:

• The coaching interface: Why Canva prioritizes coaching over top-down management to drive performance and growth.

• Handing over your Legos: How shifting mindsets around ownership allows both the leader and the team to scale.

• AI native development: Practical ways Canva uses technology to embed support directly into the flow of work.

• Cognitive real estate: Protecting employee focus and psychological safety during periods of rapid change.

About Adeption

Adeption helps organizations develop future-ready leaders at scale by turning real work into leadership development. 

Our methodology combines world-class facilitation, AI-powered technology and an action focus – helping leaders rapidly grow their capacity while navigating their top leadership challenges.

Adeption partners with leading organizations around the world. Our work has received multiple Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards and recognition on Training Industry’s 2O26 Leadership Training Watch List.