According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, U.S. women will not achieve pay equality until the year 2059. The message rings true for female professionals: A study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org, Women in the Workplace 2016, found that 33 percent of women think that their gender will make it harder to get a raise, promotion, or chance to get ahead.

On January 18, 2017, the Center for Women and Business, the Hoffman Center for Business Ethics and the Bentley Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility hosted Joann Lublin, Wall Street Journal management news editor to talk about her new book, Earning It.

Lublin’s book compiles lessons from senior corporate executive women who overcame various forms of gender and other biases early in their careers and went on to become better leaders as a result. Lublin shared three of her top takeaways:

Bargain hard for fair pay

How firmly should you stand your ground when demanding better pay? If you’re valued, and employers are talking to you about your future, you have leverage —you should use it. Lublin suggests exerting clout during pay negotiations based on your achievements, but more importantly your knowledge about what people at that same job level earn inside and outside your workplace. Do your homework, recognize your value and make it visible.

Earn power by taking calculated risks

Be willing to take on “mission impossible.” Lublin’s advice: “Accept the job, the task or the function that nobody else wants to do, but don’t plunge head first into a job that you know nothing about until you gauge how it will fit into your life.” Getting out of your comfort zone, she adds, “will develop leadership muscles; and if you take on a major challenge and you succeed, it could build your image as a valued change agent.” Caveat: Accept the risky role only after you’ve thoroughly explored the downsides and the upsides (by talking to people in similar roles), and gain a clear sense of how your boss defines success.

Earn credibility with skeptical colleagues

Stand up for yourself and your ability to work with colleagues — male and female — by connecting with them on a personal level. It’s okay to go toe-to-toe, Lublin says, but to consider using humor (rather than anger) to deflect negative pushback or negativity.

On a broader level, Lublin encourages women to find powerful sponsors early, middle and late in their career. She notes that male sponsors are just as important as female sponsors. “Like it or not,” Lublin says, “men are still in positions of power and there are not enough women in the pool. Plus, men know what it takes for men to get ahead, and women can benefit from that knowledge.”

Lublin is confident that, though there’s no single formula, change is on the horizon. “Thanks to trailblazing women, we’re going to see the glass ceiling disappear — in part because men and women are going to work harder to smash that ceiling; and it will be an amazing transformation.”