Ian Dinwiddy

Speaker, Coach and Mentor

Live Event Inspiration, Insight and Interactivity.

Help your colleagues gain fresh understanding about about how to leverage support for new dads’ well-being to drive gender equality at work and at home.

Ian provided a talk to Harbour Energy for International Men’s Day in 2023 highlighting masculine stereotypes, what has changed for men over the years and also providing insight into how helping men, helps equality and women too. Not only is Ian a natural at what he does, he is thorough in his preparation in advance and takes all of our business needs into account.

We had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the Business after Ian delivered his session, and I genuinely believe I see a difference in some of my male colleagues and how they are more open with other male colleagues and their mental health. We wanted to leave the session recognising that laughter really does bring us all together, and with Ian’s work he definitely did that. Thank you!

Jeni Bratton, Co-Chair of Gender Balance Network at Harbour Energy

About Ian

I was 11 years old when our mum’s multiple sclerosis broke any domestic gender role expectations I might have had as a young teenager in a family of males.

At 33, becoming a dad showed me how challenging the early stages of fatherhood can be - identity, anxiety and mixed emotions, it also demonstrated that work and ‘status’ don’t define a man.

I was 35, in 2012, when 1 year old George Burke’s sudden death, followed 5 days later by the suicide of his dad, my friend, Paul, showed how fragile life can be. The devastation these events caused, painfully illustrates the importance of both crisis support for mental health trauma and normalising men feeling comfortable talking about their emotions, worries and pressures.

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Ian delivers coaching, presentations and workshops to innovative businesses who put supporting new dads at the heart of their gender equality strategy, recognising the positive impact on equality and well-being of helping dads solve the challenge of “how to be a great dad WITHOUT sacrificing a great career.”

An ex Management consultant, twice a stay at home dad and an English National League hockey umpire, I’m the co-host of 46 episodes of the Lockdown Dads podcast, where we interviewed politicians, PhDs and an international rock star.

How I can Help

Whether you want to broaden your DE&I offer, create an impactful International Men’s Day Event or need someone to open your colleagues’ eyes to the importance of men in the gender equality conversation, contact me to discuss about how I can deliver live events for your business - helping shine a light on the highs and lows of the new dad experience. I am an experienced speaker and host of panel events, workshops and webinars. We can bring your colleagues’ stories to life, blending data, my coaching insight and engaging stories.

Together we can use your live event to help build or support the business case for meaningful gender change, addressing the core challenge about who accesses parental leave, flexible working and part-time hours.

Your event has the power to be the catalyst for meaningful gender equality at home and at work.

As Seen In

Webinars, Workshops and Panel Events

Thought Leadership For Cultural Change

• Why Supporting New Dads At Work Is The Route To Gender Equality.

• What’s In It For Me(N), Leveraging Fatherhood For Gender Equality.

• Why Flexible Working For Fathers Is Good News For Everyone.

• Rethinking Masculinity - Men As Allies For Gender Equality.

• Equal Parental Leave as an Enabler to Women’s Career Progression

A Focus on Fatherhood

• How To Balance Work And Fatherhood: Masculinity And Parenting In A Changing World.

• Managing The Emotional And Practical Impacts Of Becoming A Dad.

• My Story - Challenging The Assumptions Of Fatherhood.

Supporting Gender Equality

• The Home Contract - Understanding Second Shift & Mental Load Challenges. (with Frances Cushway)

• Parenthood - The Ultimate Personal Development Opportunity. (with Frances Cushway)

• Fatherhood And The Parental Transition - Tips For Coaching Working Dads.

• The Benefits of Extended Parental leave for Fathers and Families.

Insights

interactivity

via Mentimeter, Surveys and interview segments.

Impact

“Ian contributed to Future Men’s Agenda: Dad online meeting space where he shared his insights on the process of Shared Parental Leave, a parental leave policy that permits leave to be shared between partners over a 12-month period and in line with specific considerations. The full interview can be seen on Future Men’s YouTube channel.

While Ian provides a service to support working fathers and the companies they work for establish expectations, have conversations about leave and childcare, and establish new social norms for working fathers, he is keenly aware of the need for examination of the structures in which these activities are taking place. This requires having open and honest conversations about the policy frameworks and the implications on practice. Ian’s contribution to that discussion through Agenda: Dad, which has representation from policy, service delivery, campaigning, and practice professionals, and the All Party-Parliamentary Group on Fatherhood, has been key to the wider discussion of fatherhood in the UK.

Ian is the epitome of knowledgeable, professional, and personable. He is very capable to holding numerous challenging themes and opinions, while facilitating productive conversation that lead to positive outcomes.”

Chris Stein, Director of Marketing, Fundraising and Advocacy at Future Men

“I cannot begin to thank Ian enough for his insightful presentation to our firm. The comments I received from our colleagues confirmed what I had promised, which was that you were the best person to discuss gender equity and the important role men have to play as allies. Not only did you provide us with fresh, new, valuable information and tools, but you sent our attendees out motivated to use them.  This is the second time Ian has delivered excellent advice and guidance on the subject – and I am looking forward to his ongoing support and partnership with our firm and gender equity network.”

Steph Amor, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Freeths LLP

“That was a really well prepared and delivered session. Thank you for your good work. Very inspiring food for thought.”

Ana de Montvert Head of Digital Business Development, EMEA. Co-chair Gender Equality Network. Chubb Insurance

“After having heard Ian on a recent webinar, I thought he’d be an ideal speaker for our Storytelling Inclusion Series. I was right! Ian was really easy to work with and was keen to ensure that he delivered exactly what we needed. He’s a very engaging person and his story resonated with a lot of our staff. We really enjoyed Ian’s session (‘My Story: Challenging The Assumptions of Fatherhood’) and would thoroughly recommend him.”

Elaine Smith, People Development and Inclusion Manager, North Sea Transisiton Authority

“Admiral recently paired up with Ian @ Inspiring Dads for International Men’s Day. Thanks Ian for a fantastic session with our team - thought provoking and engaging content and Ian is incredibly relatable, knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Our session, ‘Supporting Dads at Work’ has sparked some really great conversations and we hope to use the recommendations Ian provided to help us keep driving gender equality in our workplace.”

Holly Needs, Diversity and Inclusion Manager UK at Admiral Group

“Ian delivered a one hour webinar on the subject of whether Working Dads can have it all.  Ian came across as being knowledgeable and very likeable.  The content and style of delivery was engaging and the interview he conducted with a member of our team was fantastic, really bringing the session to life.  There was a good balance of thought provoking stories and practical tips to take away. The feedback we have had from attendees has been great and has led to an increase in the number of fathers joining our Working Parents Crew at Clear Channel.  A real success!”

Aaron Martin, Co-Chair Working Parents Crew, Clear Channel

Ian joined us for a UK&I AkzoNobel webinar on “How Flexible Working for Fathers is Good News for Everyone.” The session was well attended and excellent feedback was received from both attendees and those that caught the recording at a later date, sparking discussions and questions around our flexible working policies. Ian’s session was engaging and interesting, with thought provoking research and statistics. Ian led a panel discussion with 2 fathers within the company and explored the choices they’d made and how flexible working suited their individual circumstances. Ian was a pleasure to work with – from the initial discussions to finalising the content and right through the reviewing how the session had worked.  We’re looking forward to exploring options for 2023!

Sioned Ferriday, Proud Parents Lead, AkzoNobel.

Attendee Feedback

Brilliant session, thanks all for taking the time

Thank you very much for this call, it was great.

Incredibly insightful and great speakers, it was a pleasure to hear and learn. Thank you so much!

Thank you.  Well worth the hour spent!

Thank you so much! Excellent tips 

Panel Session: How to be a parent in the workplace for Grazia and UBS with Christine Armstrong.

Good energy and good communicators, good examples of honest and role models that can help me.

Great discussion - speakers were excellent. Lots of food for thought! Thank you.

Insightful and eye-opening.

As a first time father of a now 1 year old, a lot of the topics hit home for me. The speakers were amazing, insightful and assured me that the struggles of parenthood are normal.

Engaging and insightful.

Panel Session: Working Culture for Modern Fatherhood for Work Life Central with Elliott Rae and Paul Morgan-Bentley

“All of it was relevant – a webinar I could actually relate to and was nodding the whole way through!”

“Loved Ian’s case study….  If we can get to a place where flexibility with regards to childcare is a non-gender issue and therefore eliminate any bias on these grounds that would be amazing for everyone.”

“thank you! this was fantastic! both my partner and i watched this and really found it useful”

“Thank you for a really interesting session on a theme that isn't discussed often enough”

“This was a great presentation with great statistical proofs of how un-equal "Home Contracts" are. 🙂 “

“For me, the concept of 'mental load' is refreshing to hear as I just thought my head was aching from maintaining the mental lists of all the forward planning. Great to know this is actually a thing!”

“Fantastic session thanks so much and a few take aways for me certainly.”

“A truly wonderful session and much food for thought, I felt like I was a progressive father but I have such along way to go, I am still fighting societal expectations of men and women. Thank you for providing validations in wanting to share the mental load.”

“Great session - I'll be going through that youGov task list slide with my wife later to see who owns what - or who thinks they own what!”

“Brilliant session - thank you Ian and Frances and everyone for a vibrant discussion 👏👏👏

“Thanks so much, great to know I'm not on my own with the struggles!”

“I have to go now but thanks Ian, it's genuinely been interested to hear from you”

“This has been really insightful for me and given me some good points to think about / put into practice! Thanks”

“Thank you, Ian. Your presentation was informative and has given me some key points to think on.”

“Thank you for today's session. It has made me consider a few things (mental load and more reasons why flexible working is so important I might not have otherwise). Appreciate the important stats shown here as well.”

Join My Free Webinar “An Introduction… to supporting New Dads at work”

Register for our monthly 30 mins free webinar and discover…

• Why women’s career progression challenges are bound up in men’s experiences of the ‘dad journey.’

• The opportunties to reframe how we see parenthood and gender.

• How each of these elements has a part to play to create better outcomes for individuals, families and the workplace.

  • The cultural framework. Talk about and normalise policy and attitudes.

  • Well paid extended leave options.

  • Group support – workshops and coaching.

  • Personalised 1 to 1 coaching.

Learn more about why supporting new dads at work is a route to gender equality AND what exactly we can do about it in my free webinar. Join the webinar and gain insight that has previously only been available in my client content, webinars, and workshops.

Thought Leadership