The Women’s Sat Nav to Success

29/01/2026

I’m taking a different stance on this year’s International Women’s Day theme: Give To Gain.

In the workplace, women are already giving — time, energy, insight and effort.
And yet progress on pay, progression and recognition remains slow, uneven and fragile.

That’s because effort has consistently been redirected away from the true battlefield — where power, decisions, funding and accountability for opportunity actually sit.

Women are not passive. They are calling out inequity, sharing experiences, demanding change, and investing significant time and intellectual energy in finding solutions. Much of this happens in women-owned and women-dominated spaces dedicated to addressing workplace barriers. These spaces matter — they provide language, validation and shared understanding.

But they also have a structural limitation. They typically exclude the gatekeepers of stasis versus change — those who control priorities, resources and outcomes.

This is the focus of my IWD26 talk:
Give To Gain? Why focusing effort off the true battlefield won’t deliver change in the workplace — and what will.

Grounded in original research and the practical strategies set out in my book Understand: Dare: Thrive, the session focuses on how women can redirect effort back inside organisations, so change can accelerate where it counts.

This International Women’s Day, Give To Gain is reframed — not as a call for women to give more, but as a call to focus supported effort where it can finally deliver workplace change.

12/12/2025

Women’s professional value and potential aren’t limited by their ability.
They’re limited by long-standing assumptions about what “competence” looks like — assumptions that were shaped by history, power and gender, not by evidence.

Through research across 35 sectors, I’ve seen the same pattern repeat again and again. Women’s contribution, capability and potential are consistently under-recognised — not because women fall short, but because they are judged through expectations that still default to “male”.

This plays out in everyday working life:
who is assumed competent,
who is trusted with important work,
whose ideas are taken seriously,
and who is rewarded and progressed.

At middle-management level, this has real consequences. Our research found a 27-point gap between the extent to which women contribute and the extent to which their contribution is recognised and valued. For men, the gap is just 3 points.

It’s no surprise, then, that progress for women remains slow and uneven — even after decades of equality legislation.

But here is the part that matters most.

Women do not have to wait for organisations to fully wake up to this reality before they can change their own experience and outcomes.

One of the most powerful shifts comes from understanding that these patterns are not personal. They are systemic. And once you see that clearly, it becomes possible to stop internalising the impact, to hold on to the truth of your value, and to act with greater confidence and agency.

That’s exactly why I wrote
📘 Understand: Dare: Thrive. How to have your best career, from today.

The book brings together the research, insights and practical strategies women need to:
• recognise and articulate their true professional value
• navigate biased workplace dynamics
• secure the recognition, opportunities and rewards they deserve

👉 If this resonates, my book provides the frameworks and tools to help you — or a woman you care about — move forward with clarity and confidence. (You can buy it here https://cutt.cx/Mbv )

20/11/2025

Women don’t need more motivation — they need the means to get what they want and deserve.
The clarity, the self-belief, and the ‘how-to’ that workplaces rarely provide.

If you’re heading into the end of the year ready for a change, or simply wanting to feel more valued and more in control of your career, that’s exactly why I wrote 'Understand: Dare: Thrive. How to have your best career, from today'.

It’s built on 10+ years of research and the stories of 45 successful women who shared the reality of their careers — the breakthroughs, the barriers, the biases, and the strategies that actually work.

This isn’t a motivational book.

It’s a practical guide to building the career you want, on your terms, with clarity and purpose.

If you’re thinking about the woman you want to be stepping into 2026 — clearer, braver, more confident, better equipped — this might be the right place to start.

🎁 A meaningful gift to yourself.
Or to a woman you’re supporting.

👉 Order the book here: https://t.ly/dEahC

11/11/2025

Make Your Value Count This Appraisal Season!

If you’re heading into your appraisal or performance review soon, how are you feeling about it?

For many women, this time of year brings more anxiety than anticipation.
Not because they’ve underperformed — but because their value isn’t always fully recognised.
Changing that can feel daunting.
It takes confidence, clarity, and a plan.

And that’s why preparation matters more than ever.

Recent findings from the Chartered Management Institute and FTSE Women Leaders Review show that even as representation improves, pay and progression gaps remain stubbornly wide.
Improving gender balance doesn’t automatically translate into balanced perceptions of value or potential.

So, how do we make sure our contributions are seen and rewarded for what they’re really worth?

By going into every review armed with compelling, business-goals focused evidence — not just individual wins.

When you can connect your work to tangible outcomes — the projects delivered, teams strengthened, problems solved, stakeholder wins — you give decision-makers proof of your impact.

That’s what changes the conversation.

The Professional Value Proposition Framework was designed to help you do exactly that.

It helps you:
• Identify your true professional value (beyond tasks).
• Translate your impact into the language of business.
• Approach appraisals and pay reviews with clarity and confidence.

Because when your value is recognised and understood, everyone benefits — you, your manager, and your organisation.

👉 Download your free Professional Value Proposition Framework and guide here: Insights & resources - https://womenssatnav.co.uk/insights-resources/

How are you preparing to make your value visible this appraisal season?
I’d love to hear how you approach these conversations.

25/09/2025

“Sod expecting women to do this extra work. You need to change the workplace so they don’t have to.”

That’s what one of the 45 senior women leaders I interviewed told me while researching my book Understand: Dare: Thrive. How to have your best career, from today.

She was right.

But here’s the reality:
➡️ Women’s progress into leadership is still painfully slow.
➡️ The gender pay gap is closing at a glacial pace.
➡️ Even after 50+ years of equality legislation, women don’t enjoy the same outcomes as men who start out beside them.

Why? Because humans — especially those leading organisations — don’t always behave logically.

That’s why women can’t afford to wait for “someday.”
They need the know-how to secure opportunities, recognition, and rewards now.

✨ This is why I created The Women’s Sat Nav to Success.

Based on 10+ years of research and the lived experiences of 45 successful women leaders, I’ve distilled 19 proven strategies that help women:
✔️ Thrive throughout their careers
✔️ Progress at their own pace, on their own terms
✔️ Enjoy more success, with less angst

Women shouldn’t have to waste energy figuring out how to navigate the labyrinth.
And now, they don’t have to.

👉 Explore the option that fits your needs and budget: https://womenssatnav.co.uk/contact-us/

26/02/2024

These are the words of an Alabama woman now denied the IVF she's been preparing for for 10 months.
She says it all.
"Nobody understands more that an embryo is not a child," she said, before taking a pause, "than the person yearning for that embryo to be a child."

23/02/2024

Worth reading in full, whatever your political persuasion.

If he can achieve his aim of halving violence against women he will have transformed our laissez-faire culture about this ongoing massacre - an average of one woman murdered every 3 days in the UK, by a man known to her.

The most working class leader of the Labour party for a generation, he is well ahead in the polls, but still a mystery to many. His biographer reveals what drives this unusual politician

07/11/2023

A template for women at work

workingmums.co.uk speaks to a woman who took Diana Parkes’ book on understanding the things that hold women back at work and daring to overcome them and used it as a template for a women’s book club focused on practical action.

https://www.workingmums.co.uk/a-template-for-women-at-work/

Writers of books on women’s career progression might get the odd letter of appreciation and affect individual change, but Diana Parkes’ book, ‘Understand, Dare, Thrive: How to have your best career, from today’, has been taken up by a whole group of women in one company and used as the basis...

28/09/2022

Out now!
Understand: Dare: Thrive. How to have your best career from today.

Here's what Dame Inga Beale, first female CEO of Lloyds of London had to say about it, ‘Finally, a book that will help real women to have the working lives they deserve – because it equips them with the truth about their value and potential, and provides practical, accessible and comprehensive options for successfully navigating workplace culture and biases.’

Order your copy now, at https://ariadnesgold.co.uk/product/understand-dare-thrive.

Look inside 'Understand: Dare: Thrive. How to have your best career, from today' - essential reading for all women, and all champions of equity, diversity and inclusion. Every insight and answer that matters is here, in one place. In this ground-breaking book, leading authority Diana Parkes – busi...

07/06/2022

A 90 second intro to The Women's Sat Nav to Success.

01/09/2021

Here's workingmums.co.uk overview of my book, Understand: Dare: Thrive. How to have your best career from today. A 3 minute read.

The book is written for you.

How can women be successful at any level of their career? Diana Parkes’ new book, Understand: Dare: Thrive, out today, is based on interviews with over 45 women who have ‘made it’ and share their experience. It provides pragmatic strategies for negotiating a workplace that continues to be bias...

21/06/2021

Let me know what you think of our new animation to introduce our business.
Hope you like it!