In the age of ever-pinging Slack and Teams messages, disconnecting from work can feel impossible. Canva CEO Melanie Perkins recently shared how she logs off — and why digital boundaries are important.
“I don’t have email or Slack on my phone,” Perkins said on Lenny’s Podcast. “When I shut my laptop, I actually tune out.”
That doesn’t mean Perkins is fully offline — she’s still reachable. “If there’s a real issue, I’ll get an emergency call or page,” she said.
Perkins cofounded the graphic design company in 2012 with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams. In over a decade of leadership, Perkins said she has learned the importance of balance.
“I feel like I’ve developed some healthy habits over the years,” she said. “Trying to delineate, I think, is really important. So when I’m working, I’m all in. And then when I’m not working, I’m all out.”
It’s about taking time to see the bigger picture. “Actually giving that mental space, I think, is really important,” she said.
Even at the top of the org chart, other founders and CEOs have been known to set digital boundaries.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said that he tries to limit his phone usage, as phones can be a distraction that prevents people from forming their own ideas.
“I know it’s kind of counterintuitive because I founded one of the largest social networks in the world, after which I founded the second-largest messaging app in the world,” Durov said earlier this year.
Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong had a different reason for getting offline: spending time with his kids. In 2024, Sutherland-Wong said that he doesn’t answer texts or emails in front of his kids.
“I want to lead by not having digital products all around,” Sutherland-Wong said.
In 2018, Hinge CEO Justin McLeod said that he doesn’t have email on his phone. McLeod described himself as a “much better decision-maker” and a “much better leader” when he’s not following the minutia of emails on his phone.
Even actors are taking note. Aziz Ansari said that he still uses a flip phone and that he doesn’t have email.
On the other end of the spectrum are the hardcore founders who embrace the 996 work schedule — a work style that has gained popularity in recent years.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of founders who haven’t quite found that and then do struggle with it,” Perkins said on the podcast. “When they’re working every weekend, it feels like the right thing, but then sometimes you can miss the forest for the trees.”
“You’re just working harder and harder, but maybe you’re actually working on the wrong thing,” she said.
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