BIG yourself: Closing the Confidence Gap. Part 2
with Joanna Gilroy — Group Sustainability Director, Balfour Beatty
When Joanna Gilroy was in her early twenties, she stood at the edge of a mining site in Western Australia. It was searingly hot. She was surrounded by men in high-vis. And in front of her lay a vast, oozing pond of chemical waste.
“I just remember looking at this toxic lake,” she told us, “and thinking — I don’t want to be part of this system. I want to change it.”
It was a gut punch. Not just because of the sludge, but because of the silence around it. Everyone seemed desensitised. This, apparently, was just how business worked.
That moment didn’t just kickstart Joanna’s career in sustainability. It gave her a core belief she’s carried ever since: you can’t fix a system by becoming blind to it. Perhaps, this was the core belief that has pulled her forward ever since, a North Star giving her clarity of purpose.
Not all confidence is created equal
Today, Joanna is Group Sustainability Director at Balfour Beatty — a role that touches everything from carbon emissions to workplace culture in one of the UK’s most traditionally male sectors.
But she’s not interested in performing confidence. She’s interested in changing what confidence actually looks like.
“There’s this thing I call toxic confidence,” she said.
“It’s that bravado — always speaking first, always sounding sure, never admitting you don’t know something. It looks strong, but it’s brittle. And it’s dangerous.”
It’s dangerous because it silences better ideas. And because it teaches young women that confidence means acting like someone they’re not.
“We need to show girls — and boys — that confidence can look like listening. Or questioning. Or saying, ‘I need help with this.’ That’s not weakness. That’s wisdom.”
Showing up, and shifting the room
Joanna’s leadership isn’t loud. It’s persistent. It’s visible. And it creates space.
At Balfour Beatty, she’s been part of launching Right to Respect — a cultural campaign that tackles everything from period awareness to menopause to the basic dignity of not being the only woman in a meeting full of men.
“We talk about periods openly. We stock products in every bathroom. But we also ask: what else are we missing? What else are we pretending doesn’t exist?”
That question — what are we pretending not to see? — is the same one she asked at the edge of that toxic pond in Australia. And it's the same one she keeps asking now, with more power behind her voice.
“We can’t wait for culture to shift. You have to shift it yourself — again and again and again. But the difference is real. I’ve seen it.”
Final word?
We always ask: what would you say to your teenage self?
Joanna didn’t miss a beat.
“Don’t try to be like them. Don’t shrink. Don’t pretend. You’re allowed to care, and you’re allowed to question things. That’s not being difficult — that’s being brave.”
And that, right there, is confidence. The right kind.
