Disrupting Self with Jeff Knisley

There was a time when promotions came to the confident and bold individuals that always seemed to know the answer. Then something seemed to change and now there is a premium for leaders that are keenly aware that they don’t always know the answer and recognize that success only comes from drawing on the people, insights and knowledge around them. In this conversation I thought I would be talking with my guest about confident and candid leadership. But when I actually spoke with Jeff Knisley, Vice President of Business Development at startup Autozen, I experienced the unexpected. Over the years I watched as Jeff found his success in leadership by building an armour of confidence as he worked his way up to executive roles at companies like Purolator, Livingston, UPS, Autotrader, Yellow Pages, Postmedia and Rise People. He leveraged this confidence to push the people he led, to protect them, to provide clarity through complex industry disruptions, and to deliver the answers to difficult questions. Over time, and especially most recently, he has discovered that he needs to shift away from the traits that made him successful and face the uncertain future with courageous vulnerability as he navigates the disruption he has created for himself.