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Buy the BookChange the System, Not the Women makes a single, unflinching argument: organizations don't have a women problem. They have a design problem. Drawing on 25 years inside complex systems and every seat at the leadership table, Tina Yerkes exposes how organizations consistently misdiagnose the problem, protect the system over the people, and then wonder why talented women keep leaving. The book moves from pattern recognition to structural diagnosis to the four pillars of redesign — giving leaders the framework to stop coaching women to survive broken systems and start building organizations that actually work.
This is not a book about leaning in, building resilience, or navigating workplace politics. It is a book about design. It holds leaders accountable for what their systems produce — not what they intend — and makes the case that equity is not a values exercise. It is a performance imperative.
The clearest book on leadership decision-making I've read in a decade.
Author, The Quiet Edge
Tina names the things every executive feels and most refuse to say out loud.
Stanford GSB
I gave a copy to every member of my leadership team. We refer back to it weekly.
CEO, Linfield Capital
Tina carefully articulates why gendered leadership is a structural design problem and not merely cultural bias. Thus, she’s able to bring incisive clarity to suggestions for better design that create performance alpha and not merely better organizational cultures. This is a must-read for leaders who are ready to frame workplace equity as the key to more successful organizational outcomes, which it rightfully is.
As someone who has spent my career in large organizations, I recognize the systems with all their inherent flaws that Tina Yerkes describes in Change the Systems, Not the Women. Systems designed to maintain existing power structures and leaders who rarely question the fundamental designs of those systems because frankly, they benefit from them. Companies that misdiagnose and "fix" the wrong issues, that underperform because they've trained their organizations to challenge less and agree more, to reward comfort instead of results. It's time we stop trying to change women. Leaders aren't responsible for the systems they inherit. But they are responsible for the ones they leave behind. If you're a leader who seeks to create a better organization, start here!
Like many of the workplace challenges Tina has tackled throughout her career, she has taken on a complex subject with many twists and turns. Through her insightful analysis in Change the System, Not the Women, she presents a clear and concise examination of the issues along with practical solutions to address them. Tina has always possessed a remarkable ability to quickly identify problems, develop effective solutions, and move forward with positive results. This book is a must-read for any leader who cares about their organization’s culture.
'Change the System, not the Women' is valuable not only because it calls out systemic failures—we all know about those—but because it identifies the cost organizations are paying and strategies to overcome staid responses. This is a valuable tool for leaders looking to try something new, because our current methods for harnessing what women bring to the workplace aren't working.
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