POWER REDEFINED: Women at the Top on What Really Matters

Power is a subject women rarely speak about comfortably. Yet across 18 raw and unfiltered conversations with women leaders, a messy mosaic emerges—complex, contradictory, and compelling.

Power is not about titles or hierarchy. The real seat of power is internal: clarity about what you stand for, confidence to act on it, and the calm to hold your line when challenged. Women define power through connection and influence, not dominance. Power is not a weapon; it is a relationship.

What holds women back is not lack of talent or hunger, but years of conditioning about how they “should” behave. Power is a muscle that strengthens with practice—every hard decision, every moment of speaking up, and every instance of holding your ground in intimidating rooms.

Different stories across multiple spectrums. A scientist-turned-CEO who sold her company four times over, navigating corporate giants twice her age. Executives who travelled days after childbirth while redefining what leadership looks like. Women who walked into rooms of 200 people and instinctively knew who mattered. The turning point is always internal: the courage to disrupt, the decision to ask for what she truly wants, the willingness to risk before feeling ready, the moment a woman chooses herself.

Power is not something women wait for or chase after. You already have it. You just need to step wholly into it.

This book is for women ready to redefine power on their own terms and men who understand that the world is a better place when both hold the reins.

About the Author

Serena Wong is a senior advisor in family wealth and private banking, with more than 25 years of experience working with high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, and family offices across Asia and Europe. Her work focuses on helping families make considered, long-term decisions about their wealth, grounded in cross-generational stewardship and an appreciation that wealth extends beyond financial capital.

She is a Managing Director and Senior Advisor at a leading Swiss private bank, advising international clients who value Switzerland’s stability and long-term perspective as foundations for wealth planning. Previously, she served as Head of Advisory at a Singapore-based multi-family office, and led a multidisciplinary team delivering investment management, wealth planning, administrative, and legacy advisory services to entrepreneurial families across Asia.

Earlier in her career, Serena held senior leadership roles in global private banking including serving as Head of Indonesia Market at a major international bank, and worked in Investment Banking in Paris and London. She began her career at Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

Serena holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) from the National University of Singapore. She serves as a Council Member for the Asia Pacific region at Tuck.

A long-standing advocate for women’s leadership and financial agency, Serena was a founding committee member of JPMorgan’s Women Interactive Network in Asia and is the Co-Founder of Women in Family Offices, a professional network supporting women decision-makers within the family office ecosystem. She is author of the book Why Women Don’t Talk Money.

Sharon Sim

Sharon Sim is a Singapore-born author, family office leader, finance industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience across capital markets, wealth management, and private investing. Her work brings together money, power, and investment, with a particular focus on how women navigate influence, responsibility, and decision-making within families and institutions.

Her career spans senior roles in global financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, UBS, and J.P. Morgan. She holds senior leadership roles at a Global Multi-Family Office and was a CEO of a Single Family Office, working closely with entrepreneurial families on legacy planning, investment strategy, and the stewardship of multi-generational capital.
Sharon is the Co-Founder and General Partner of Purpose Venture Capital, where she invests in technology ventures that seek to deliver commercial returns alongside positive social and environmental outcomes. She is also the co-author of Why Women Don’t Talk Money and producer-host of the Why Women Don’t Talk Money podcast series, exploring women’s complex relationship with money, agency, and financial empowerment. Sharon is a frequent speaker and commentator on investing, leadership, and financial wellbeing, and has been featured on Bloomberg, Tatler Asia, The Business Times, The Straits Times, and Channel News Asia.

Beyond investing and writing, Sharon is passionate about uplifting and empowering women across different stages of life and career, and continues to advocate for a purpose-driven approach to capital. She is Co-Founder and Chair of Women in Family Offices and a Board Member of Daughters of Tomorrow, a Singaporean charity supporting under-resourced women in upskilling and building sustainable careers.