Empower. Transform.
Illuminate. Lead
Leading by generative compassion in an era searching for healing.
We’re rewriting the playbook for compassion – designing and delivering generative compassion solutions that build value, reduce harm and change lives for the better. It’s the portal to trust and authenticity for organizations and the key to well-being and healing for countless individuals. Scroll down to learn more.
On today's compassion.
“When I use the word compassion, I don’t mean the typical ‘I feel your pain’ platitudes politicians are quick to serve up in trying times. The compassion I’m calling for is generative compassion for our time. It proactively seeks to inspire hope and reduce suffering wherever it can. It employs robust guardrails to prevent avoidable harms. It boldly contributes to the sustainability of our lives, our society and our planet.”
— Kathleen Finlay, CEO and founder, Generative/Compassionn and the Global Campaign for Generative Compassion.
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We work to create powerful compassion agendas that align with the client’s mission and values, fuel innovation among workplace teams and build an ecosystem of caring collaboration that mitigates risk, leverages opportunities and delivers support where it is most needed. The science of compassion tells us that caring organizations — the ones that speak the language of our common humanity and proactively seek to reduce adverse impacts — are the organizations people most want to work for, buy from and invest in.
Compassion is the currency of authenticity in a world increasingly distracted by disinformation, greenwashing and boundless conspiracy theories. It’s also the language of savvy leaders who understand the importance of leading by compassion and its role in building trust. We counsel boards and top decision makers on the creation of strategies, actions and narratives that resonate with compassion and inspire hope. Just think of the last time you were moved by a showcase speech. Chances are it was the compassion part that did it.
The quest to count, to be included and to have hope for a better tomorrow is the common aspiration of our global humanity. It’s also the quest of a planet seeking its own sustainability. We work with clients to create, collaborate on and deliver compelling advocacy and cause campaigns that build on the power of compassion to change lives, change organizations and change the world.
A proven record of policy and legislative success in advocating for others, and a drive to solve problems through innovation, top the unique skills we bring to our client engagements with our approach to generative compasssion. Our ideas work.
When crisis arrives, new ideas can be a welcome ally. Generative/Compassion brings the healing power of compassion to crisis management. We’re the first in the world to bring this resource to the boadroom table. We seemlessly integrate our vast advocacy experience with the values and language of compassion to deliver trusted and credible outcomes that reduce the footprint of crisis and reputational harm, and can actually prevent it from happening in the first place.
How many organizations wish they had that lifeboat before crisis hit?
Our comprehensive approach brings value where it’s most needed.
Generative compassion at core
To target compassion where it’s most needed, we believe it is essential to focus on the capabilities, aspirations and shared values of the organization. We take a collaborative, workplace-engaged approach to reframing a more robust compassion agenda, and incorporating it as a core value that fully aligns with the mission of the organization. Compassion resources are always at a premium. That’s why we also take a unique value-for-dollar approach to assessing compassion performance and building the optimum compassion agenda.
Impressive record of policy firsts
Over the years, we’ve achieved groundbreaking policy and legislative successes in combating sexual misconduct, improving the delivery of mental health and suicide prevention initiatives and strengthening patient safety in the hospital setting. The quality of our advocacy and the compelling compassion-based language of our campaigns, submissions and narratives speak for themselves. They speak with equal eloquence for our clients.
Decades of real-life experiences
For two decades, our advocacy clinics have guided survivors of harm and supported them on their healing journey. Our work has produced a deep knowledge base from thousands of cases involving sexual misconduct, medical errors, diversity and inclusion issues and concerns over institutional harm. We understand the trauma that is inflicted by avoidable harm. And we know how to capture the power of compassion to change lives for the better.
Focused on leaders to most effect change
There is no more compelling voice for a leader today than one that speaks the language of compassion. In a world that increasingly places a premium on the values of our common humanity, and on its role in shaping the sustainability of the planet and its inhabitants, compassion is the currency of trust. It’s why we say the best leaders lead by generative compassion. They know it can truly change the world. As champions of compassion, they are poised to do just that, every day and at scale.
Our advocacy clinics
Two decades of on-the-ground, one-on-one, compassion-based support for the most vulnerable.
Explore the work behind the scenes: Our advocacy clinics, which have been intervening on behalf of at-risk individuals every day for the past 20 years, have delivered innovations that make patients safer in the hospital, combat the effects of sexual harassment and gender violence in the workplace and provide meaningful support to the most vulnerable through changes in public policy. The experience and accomplishments of that work have been the animating foundation for the creation of Generative/Compassion and its commitment to innovation in reimagining the promise of compassion.
Generative/Compassion’s founder Kathleen Finlay is one of Canada’s most published and interviewed commentators on the subject of compassion. Her work has informed, illuminated and inspired countless leaders and decision-makers and made a life-altering difference to survivors. These experiences now enable clients to capture the benefit of a genuinely unique set of perspectives and problem-solving skills they will not find anywhere else.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORK AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OUR ADVOCACY CLINICS
Some of our media work.
Kathleen Finlay in the Toronto Star
Rebuilding Trust: Read our call in the Ottawa Citizen for a national inquiry into the lessons of the pandemic.
After Kathleen Finlay’s tireless four-year campaign to bring 988 to Canada, the new national three-digit crisis line has begun saving lives across the country.
Interview by acclaimed medical journalist Avis Favaro for CIHI’s podcast on medical errors in the hospital setting. Go to the Podcast.
Addressing the prestigious St. James Literary Society of Montreal. Topic: Making Compassion the New Normal.
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Generative/Compassion is your partner in reimagining compassion. And changing the world.
We work with trusted clients in these industries and sectors
Health care
Universities
Municipalities
NGOs
Public institutions
Global brands, ESG and IR
We focus predominantly on these areas