Lisa DeMille

Vice President, Solution Engineering, Salesforce

DeMille says she cultivates a network of “former bosses, family members, military heroes and IT executives” who provide her with counsel and mentorship. She calls them “Ride or Dies” — and none of them work at Salesforce. “For me, this is important because they are able to have a third-party outside view and a different perspective on things.” She encourages her team members to do the same. “I don’t believe that as a manager you can be a mentor, because a mentor has to be able to give you that third-party view, and that’s hard to do as a manager,” she says. “But I do believe that, as a manager, you can be a great coach.”