Chief Change Officer
#350 Lucy Gernon: Redefining Confidence—No Quotes, No Apologies
Tue, 6 May 2025
Confidence might be the most overused word in leadership—but Lucy Gernon is here to give it teeth.After two decades in the pharmaceutical world, Lucy faced a moment of reckoning when a family tragedy pushed her to stop waiting and start living on her own terms. Now, as a multi-award-winning executive coach and founder of the Executive Presence Blueprint, she helps high-achieving women get out of their own heads—and into positions of power.In this episode, Lucy opens up about overcoming self-doubt, people-pleasing, and the inner critic that once held her back. From side hustle strategies to emotional intelligence and inclusive leadership, she shares what it really takes to build confidence that lasts—not the kind that sounds good on Pinterest, but the kind that actually gets you promoted.Key Highlights of Our Interview:From Science to Stage: A Career Rewired by Purpose“Even as a microbiologist, I always loved people more than Petri dishes.”The Wake-Up Call: When Life Says ‘Go Now’“When my father-in-law died suddenly, I realized: I was living to please others, not myself.”Why She Stopped Quoting Gurus and Started Trusting Herself“I used to borrow quotes—until a coach said, ‘What about your frameworks?’ That changed everything.”The Confidence Myth, Debunked“It’s not about being loud. It’s about being certain—in your voice, your value, your vision.”Motherhood, Mortgages, and Making It Work“I didn’t leap blindly—I side-hustled, saved, tested, and built. Strategy beats spontaneity.”What Executive Presence Looks Like Now (Hint: Not a Guy in a Suit)Harvard data, leadership shifts, and why charisma, inclusion, and vision matter more than ever.Her Signature Framework for Female LeadersGravitas, communication, appearance—and the one trait that still tops them all: confidence.Learning to Let Go: Why Clients Must Do the Work“It’s not my job to fix someone. The right clients are ready to act, not just listen.”AI and Coaching: Collaborators, Not Competitors“I use AI every day—to refine frameworks, spark ideas, and scale tools. But human connection? That’s irreplaceable.”_________________________Connect with us:Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Lucy Gernon --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.18 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1.5% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>170,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: Who is Lucy Gernon and what is her journey from biotechnology to coaching?
Lucy, let's start with the juicy part of the interview with you telling us about your journey from biotechnology to women leadership coaching.
Lots of twists and turns for sure. Everybody in life. So, yeah. So my name is Lucy Garnon and I am a triple certified multi-award winning executive coach.
And I work with women in leadership roles to support them to achieve their leadership career goals with more confidence without sacrificing work-life balance, work-life harmony, work-life blend, whatever you want to call it, because it really is possible. And the reason I started my business is, like you shared, I'm from Ireland. I studied biotechnology.
I was actually a microbiologist for a long time. I worked in the food and beverage sector for a while. And then I spent the majority of my two decades in American multinationals, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry. And I ran the microbiology department on a sterile manufacturing site. I had a team.
I was involved in a lot of managing teams across different time zones and trying to coordinate stakeholders across different time zones and things like that, trying to get projects over the line and run the day-to-day operations as well. And while I absolutely loved what I did for a certain period of time, I always knew I had so much more to give.
So I always wanted I was even though I was a scientist, my passion was always people. And I've been told like there's a story from when I was seven years old. I'm a Catholic and I remember we have the first Holy Communion where you get dressed up in your pretty white dress and you go up to the altar and all that good stuff.
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Chapter 2: What inspired Lucy Gernon to transition into entrepreneurship?
And I was asked to do a reading at the ceremony and there was a boy from the other class and he did the first reading and I did the second reading. And I remember even at that time being like, I wanted to do the first reading. Why is it that it's the boy that gets to do the first reading? He was really nervous. And actually, the teacher recruited me to motivate him. He was so nervous.
He didn't really want to do it. And even from a young age, I always wanted to help other people. So I remember being in my pretty white dress and he was looking at me terrified to go on the altar. And there's a video of me smiling and nodding at him. You can do it. Go do it. And he did it. So from a young age, I always wanted to empower and support other people. But I fell into science.
So long story short, I spent my career in the pharmaceutical industry and I noticed a few problems when I was there. Number one, a lot of leaders, while they may be very technically competent in their field, there's been a huge change and a huge shift in terms of what's expected today in leadership.
And there's a lot more expectation of leaders to be inclusive, to be real, to be authentic, to all of this stuff. And I noticed there was a lot of conflict happening There was a lot of women in particular too who weren't really owning their value and they knew inside that they could maybe climb the ladder and get up to those more senior roles.
But I'd see them people pleasing and playing small in front of certain dominant characters. And then in other meetings, they would be completely different. And I had personally struggled with depression, anxiety. I had been a total people pleaser myself. I didn't want to rock the boat with my superiors.
I certainly would never have gone on camera or spoken on stages or anything like I do right now. And I had done all of this work myself through going to therapy, working with coaches and all that stuff. So in the end, bringing in all of my corporate experience the challenges that I saw other leaders, other women in leadership facing.
And knowing I had this gift to inspire people, I had all of these frameworks and tools I had created myself that had helped me along my journey. I decided to basically start my business, which was the scariest thing I ever did in my whole entire life. But it's paid off. So that's it in a nutshell.
So you have this hidden burning fire inside you for long. Yet, I recall you told me once that when you shared your first post on LinkedIn, that was the scariest moment in your life. So tell us more about how this transformation of you
and voted? I suppose I had always had this burning fire inside me that I knew I was capable of more. But of course, we all have inner critics, some people louder than others. And my inner critic was so loud. I didn't think I was good enough. I didn't think I was smart enough. I thought other people knew more than me. And as a result, I played small. And
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Chapter 3: How did a personal tragedy reshape Lucy's career path?
Somebody you could have a drink with and have a good laugh with and have dinner and stuff like that. And we didn't really think much of it, but it transpired that he actually had an incurable brain tumor. Within six weeks of his diagnosis, he had sadly passed away. And it was in that moment when my father-in-law Richard passed that I realized that I had been living my life to please other people.
I was afraid to really follow what I wanted to do because I was afraid it wouldn't work. We spoke off air that I've got three children. Jayden is 16. Sarah Mae is 12. Kate is 8. I have a husband and a mortgage, but obviously we're equal partners in the marriage and Trying to make a decision about, I can't start a business. I haven't got an MBA.
I don't know how to run a business, even though I'd run areas of business in the corporate world. I wasn't sure what to do. It was a huge risk. But when my father-in-law passed away, it really made me realize you only have one life. And you only get one shot to follow your dreams. And I believe each and every one of us are here for a reason.
We're all here to experience something in this life, to add value, to have an experience, to do something. And what I've learned is that when I always had a desire to start a business, I actually tried to start a business 16 years ago, an event planning business, but I didn't know what I was doing, so it didn't really work. I always had a desire to be an entrepreneur.
I always wanted to work for myself, but I didn't think it was possible. And I want you to know, anyone who's listening, that anything is possible when you Set your eye on your intention when you get crystal clear on what you want and when you take imperfect action.
So I'm all about imperfect action, which is we can't wait for the time to write to have the conversation or for the mortgage to be paid off before we do the thing that we really want because tomorrow is not guaranteed. So I believe that you need to tune into your head, heart and gut. Listen to your inner, your soul, your inner calling. Why are you here?
And follow the path that it's trying to lead you on. And I think I'm living testament to the fact that fast forward a couple of years into my business, we had won, we had been nominated for 17 different business awards. We won four, including Best Startup of the Year in 2022. I've been featured all over the media, including big publications like Forbes.
I have a full host of different Fortune 500 companies that I work with, Google and Pfizer and women from all the big brand names. And I've created something. I have a team of seven people supporting me too, part time. And I've created something that was beyond my wildest dreams that I really wanted but didn't think was possible.
You are a mother of three and you're an entrepreneur. You've really shown us how to balance a family and a business. Many of our listeners face similar challenges, worrying about mortgages and stable paychecks, understanding that success isn't just handed to them. With your impressive journey, if you could share some practical advice for those dreaming of starting their own business,
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Chapter 4: What steps did Lucy take to successfully balance family and entrepreneurship?
I think we haven't been taught skills and tools, Vince, to handle conflict, to set boundaries, to collaborate, to say no, but also to support your colleague. I'm really good at conflict management, leadership, all of that. I started small, so I started as a side hustle. So I said, right, in September 2020, I started coaching and I did the course and I started coaching straight away.
And then for the next 18 months, No, sorry, for the next 13 months, I started doing it on the side. So I was coaching in the evenings. I was coaching at the weekend. I was testing the waters to see, was there a market there? Was there actually a demand? Could I actually get paid to do this kind of work? I did a lot of market research. I did a lot of business courses.
So I really upskilled myself while I was still working in the corporate world. I saved some money. I didn't have a lot of money, but I knew I got to a point in October 2021 when I just couldn't do it anymore. I knew I could make it work. I had enough kind of social proof behind me. I had testimonials and things.
And then I left at Christmas that year and I went full time in my business in January 2022. So it was a journey to get to that place. And you can absolutely do it once you have a strategy. And the best thing I ever did was invest in coaches and mentors to support me. So I invested heavily, like I've invested, I think, over the last couple of years.
I'm afraid to even say the figure, but I've really upskilled myself in investing in mentorship, coaching and different courses. to get me where I want to be faster. So I think if anyone is considering a career change, I think don't be afraid to invest in yourself. Smart people hire other people who are where they want to be to show them the fastest, easiest, quickest way to get there possible.
Because if I can get a shortcut and I can pay somebody to do it, that's what I'm all about. So that's my advice.
You are a coach yourself now. Ever been on the other side of that? Being coached? How has being coached helped you become better at helping your own clients?
Great question. So I've invested heavily in different coaches and mentors, and each of my different coaches has taught me something different. When you want to undergo a coaching certification, you change. So I always say there's Lucy before coaching and there's Lucy after coaching. And the biggest thing I learned from my very first coaching course
was to love myself, was that I had a lot of limiting beliefs from childhood that were holding me back. My childhood conditioning was the reason that I didn't feel good enough, that I didn't feel smart enough. And I was able to learn tools to overcome that.
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Chapter 5: What advice does Lucy offer for aspiring entrepreneurs?
And then the other thing I did was I had my coaches and mentors, but I also joined like mastermind groups.
and memberships so I've been in a number of different peer-cured groups of other female entrepreneurs who are either at my level in business or they're a little below me or they're earning multi-millions and through being in those communities it's been a game changer because you're around like-minded people who really understand the challenges you're facing
There's always somebody in the group who has been in your shoes and can share their experience or their perspective as well. And that has been an absolute game changer.
When we talked last time, you mentioned how much you focus on confidence in your coaching, especially for women at work. Yet, I've noticed that confidence is often overused, almost a buzzword in every training, learning, and tech product. I was wondering, how do you define confidence differently?
Yeah, I agree with you. I think the word confidence is very overused. But it's for me, confidence is about having certainty in yourself and your ideas and being able to articulate that with a strong, positive energy to your audience. So I feel like that should be a quote. Because that's literally it. It's about confidence comes from within.
So I wasn't confident, which meant I wasn't certain in myself. It meant I didn't show up and voice an opinion because I was afraid of being judged. Or... I was afraid to, like I had all these different tools and frameworks I had developed myself. And when I started my business, I would have been quoting like Mel Robbins or different people.
And it was one of my coaches said to me, she said, what about your frameworks? What about all the tools that you've used to achieve your goals, to be a better leader, all that stuff? And I was like, but I haven't done an organizational, behavioral organizational degree. And she said, yeah, but you have life experience. So even just by having that conversation, it really empowered me.
I have tons of different thought leadership tools that I use with my clients. And by that conversation, I'm certain in them because I know they work. So I think it's about you
Having certainty in your ideas, having certainty in who you are and what you bring to the table and realizing that if you're promoting yourself or sharing an idea and the intent behind that is to add value to another person, I believe you should do it. I believe you're doing a disservice to your audience if you're not doing it. So that's what I think confidence means.
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Chapter 6: How has being coached influenced Lucy's approach as a coach?
And they looked at the differences in executives, what's expected, what executive presence means, because a lot of people, it's an elusive term. They're told they need to work on their executive presence. They don't really understand what it means. So I did a lot of research myself to go, what does it mean? When it comes to executive presence, there's three main pillars. The first one is gravitas.
The second one is communication. And the third one is appearance. These have been in place for many years. This is what would have been needed to be a strong executive or a strong leader. Some of the biggest changes in executive presence is people are looking for authenticity.
So in their leaders, they no longer want this kind of idea of a white man in suit being really forceful, like forcefulness would have been a trait under the communication pillar. They don't want that anymore. They want more authenticity. They want more of a listen to learn orientation rather than being forceful. People want more respect from their leaders. Vision has become more important.
So for leaders to really stand out, they need to have a really strong vision. And that's become more important between the data for 2020 or 2012, 2022. Also, inclusion is a huge thing. So leaders are expected to be more inclusive. And again, while I believe most people try to do their best, they don't necessarily understand inclusion. They don't understand what it really means.
They don't understand how to be really emotionally intelligent and how to do all that good stuff. And one of the biggest things, and it has never changed, the top two traits of executive presence are Number one, confidence. And number two, it's decisiveness.
And when I looked at the corporate world and in particular many women in leadership from my own experience doing private executive coaching with them and also in my membership 360 Leaders Club, I noticed confidence to make decisions was a big challenge for them and also a framework to make decisions.
So I decided I'd create a course that would basically help them to make decisions, to be more assertive, to build their confidence and charisma, help them to rebrand themselves. So the course walks through there's a whole module on crafting your personal brand as a leader so that you can bring in your values, your strengths, your story. So it's helping them to come up with their stories.
There's a module on mastering communication and gravitas. You're expected to be able to command a Zoom room now. A lot of leaders haven't really got that down yet because they're used to in-person. And then also inclusion is a really big thing and being more emotionally intelligent. Getting the balance of the masculine and feminine energy right.
The feedback has been phenomenal, in particular on the confidence and decision-making.
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