19 June 2026

Dock & Talk: Dianna Fioravanti-Ashikwe on authentic leadership

Leadership becomes more authentic and progressive when people stop fitting into established frames and start showing up as themselves. At the latest Dock & Talk on KLU’s Hamburg campus, Dianna Fioravanti-Ashikwe, President of Kuehne+Nagel Canada, spoke with KLU President Prof. Andreas Kaplan about inclusion, resilience and creating a workplace where people feel safe to contribute. The conversation also explored the ideas behind her book “Flip the Switch: From Playing It Safe... to Crushing It!”

Two people sit in armchairs during an interview, with a city view in the background and a small table between them.

Fioravanti-Ashikwe has led Kuehne+Nagel Canada since 2022 and is responsible for around 2,500 employees across the country. Her route into logistics was not conventional. She began her career in insurance and joined Kuehne+Nagel in 2014, initially managing its insurance division. This background gave her a different perspective when she took on the presidency, and encouraged others to see leadership roles differently, too.

Creating the space to step forward

One of Fioravanti-Ashikwe’s proudest achievements is increasing the share of women on the Canadian executive team from 15 to 50 percent. The change began with creating an environment in which more people felt comfortable putting themselves forward.

During her first months as president, she listened to employees’ experiences and supported mentorship through the company’s Women in Logistics movement. This created an empowering environment for other women in the company who seeing a different leadership approach, seized their opportunity for positions of more responsibility.

“Flip the switch”: stop asking for permission

Growing up in an Italian Roman Catholic family, Fioravanti-Ashikwe was taught to follow the rules and speak when spoken to. For years, she tried not to stand out in professional settings.

This experience became one of the foundations of “Flip the Switch” (2026). Her book describes three changes in mindset: questioning the story you tell yourself, stopping the habit of asking for permission and allowing yourself to dream bigger.

Keeping leadership real

Fioravanti-Ashikwe sums up her leadership philosophy with the word “real”: resilience, empathy, authenticity and legacy. Under this acronym she encompasses a proactive approach of listening, understanding and acting on the guiding process, while staying authentic to yourself and setting up an environment that continues to flourish beyond any individual leader.