We are living in a moment of unprecedented transformation for women. Despite recent setbacks, women continue to advance in almost every arena—politics, business,education. We are starting to earn more than our husbands. More of us are getting elected to public office. We are better educated than men. Businesses know they need us and are desperate to hire and keep us. Management gurus at top universities say female leaders are the key to success in the 21st century. Of course, not everything is equal yet—and progress doesn’t follow a straight line, as the recent Supreme Court ruling makes painfully clear—but the underlying evidence and the long-term indications show that the world is moving inexorably from one dominated by men, as it has been for 2000 years, to one in which women have an equal if not greater say in how things run.

If it’s all so great, (at least for some of us) why does it feel so hard and why are there so many tensions that no one wants to talk about? Almost a dozen global studies show women improve profits, so why aren’t more of us CEOs? We’re doing better at school than boys, yet we can’t crack STEM? Do women use power differently and do we even want it? Can men ever learn to live with and, yes, love powerful women? And can we ever make real progress if we’re still operating in a world built by and for men? Do we still have to become alpha men in skirts?

What we need is a new definition of power and a reimagined workplace and homefront that everyone can buy into and benefit from. Drawing on the latest research, interviews with high-powered women, and their own personal stories, Kay and Shipman ask tough questions, surfacing hidden opportunities that draw on women’s underappreciated strengths and presenting a new operating system that helps women use their talents to become their most powerful selves.