Name: Lisa Mango

Category: In-House: Innovative Leadership

Firm/Company: One Medical/1Life Healthcare

Title: General Counsel and Secretary

Time in Position: Since 2017

What was your route to the top?

What was your route to the top? After law school, I started at a midsized law firm in San Francisco initially practicing commercial litigation but later focusing more on technology transactions and employment counseling. Realizing that I preferred working more directly with clients and learning about their businesses, I transitioned to in-house work. Early on in my in-house career, a former law firm colleague (and future mentor) asked me to join her as the second lawyer at a rapidly growing technology consulting company shortly after its IPO. I next joined an early-stage venture software company as the sole attorney and spent a few years supporting its various legal needs. After this company dissolved, I planned to follow the CEO to another startup when an opportunity to join an established public software company, Autodesk Inc., arose. For more than a decade, I was part of the Autodesk legal team supporting a number of business groups developing deeper expertise in multiple areas including licensing and technology transactions, M&A, privacy, compliance and employment, to name a few. During this time, I was also involved in building different legal practice groups within the department and took advantage of leadership and management training programs. In 2016, my former colleague convinced me to join her yet again to build a legal team at One Medical, a human-centered tech-enabled national primary health care practice. In 2018, I transitioned to the general counsel position and now oversee growing legal and compliance teams.

What is the best leadership advice you've given or received, and why do you think it was effective?

"Leadership is about influence, guidance and support—not control. Look for ways to do your job and then get out of the way so that your people can do theirs." Early in my management days, I initially believed that the best way to help my team and get things done efficiently was to be more directive and keep a close eye on their work. This approach often seemed to create more conflict and also took a lot of my time. After taking a situational leadership class and observing leaders whom I admired, over time I changed my approach to managing team members as well as working cross-functionally with other colleagues so that my ­behavior was more consistent with the above advice. And while at times I find myself being impatient, jumping in too early, or being too directive, I have observed that generally my team is more engaged and happier if I modulate my approach to empower with encouragement and a bit of direction.

Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you started out in the legal profession?

I wish I had had a better idea of all the different career paths I could take with my law degree. And that I had taken additional steps to educate myself about areas that I was interested in—like business and leadership—earlier on in my career.