Practice Notes: Implementing Quality of Life Initiatives for a People First Focus

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Practice Notes

Implementing Quality of Life Initiatives for a People First Focus

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By Major Thomas J. Travers

In organizations all around the world, leaders sally forth with inspiring messages of change. Everyone congratulates them on a presentation well delivered, admires the slogan, tucks the brand book into their briefcase[s], and then goes back to their desks and does nothing. . . . Vision without action is a dream.1

The Army People Strategy

In October 2019, the Army released The Army People Strategy as part of a broad effort to manage talent more effectively at a local and strategic level, improve Soldiers’ overall quality of life, and build inclusive and cohesive teams.2 That broad strategy is officially and colloquially known simply as “People First.”

Nonetheless, to accomplish “the mission,” hardworking Soldiers still often feel pressure to work long days and be connected even in their off-duty hours to the point that exhaustion feels common.3 Especially in light of the People First strategy, leaders should look beyond a one-size-fits-all leadership model and be mindful of the continuous erosion of boundaries made easier by twenty-first-century communication devices.4 Even before People First, in confronting challenges presented by the increasingly complex twenty-first-century operating environment, General (Retired) Stanley McChrystal wrote, “We’re not lazier or less intelligent than our parents or grandparents, but what worked for them simply won’t do the trick for us now. Understanding and adapting . . . isn’t optional . . . .”5 Therefore, for the long-term benefit of the Army’s mission, status quo leadership must firmly shift toward a culture that prevents Soldier burn-out, develops more inclusive teams, and allows Soldiers to harmoniously integrate their military duties with their personal lives.

This article will offer a subordinate’s perspective on how supervisory leaders at various echelons in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps can cultivate a People First culture to energize the workforce and improve work-life balance without changing regulations or requiring additional funding. The specific initiatives fall into two broad themes: 1) Leaders should depart from a traditional hierarchical leadership style in favor of “the web of inclusion,” and 2) Leaders should adopt internal business practices that consistently encourage a more sustainable lifestyle.

This article will then define the web of inclusion and explain how it can work within an Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA). Next, it will outline how leaders can set the conditions for their subordinates to enjoy sustainable lifestyles over the long term. Finally, it will conclude by offering a vision for how adopting these measures will change the standard OSJA culture.

The Web of Inclusion

In its broadest terms, the web of inclusion is “a pattern, a model for coherently ordering people and their tasks” as well as “a process, a way of thinking and acting, of behaving and solving problems as they arise.”6 Unlike traditional hierarchical leadership models with the organization’s leader at the top of a pyramid, within the web of inclusion, the leader is at the center of a web with lines interweaving, integrating, reinforcing, and connecting each of the other points within the web.7 The leader’s job is to articulate organizational purpose, mission, and goals and then look outward, allowing those outside the center of the web to leverage their creativity in meeting the end state.8 Hoarding information at the top of a hierarchical pyramid so the leader can be in control and the smartest person in the room is antithetical to successfully implementing the web of inclusion.9

Fostering an environment throughout the year that encourages subordinates to take leave and pass has tangible benefits. (Credit: JeromeMaurice-stock.adobe.com)

When implemented fully, the web of inclusion models the Army value of servant leadership because managers increase their impact as support personnel as opposed to simply supervising.10 In this model, the supervision is more focused on facilitating connections to others within the web and guiding wayward efforts back on course. Consider the case study at Beth Israel Deaconess (BID) Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. The center redistributed power to individual nurses to make decisions for patients because the nurses interact most directly with those patients compared to a head nurse or the doctor in charge.11 The successful experiment turned BID’s nursing model into a “classic example[] of front-line empowerment in business or industry today . . . that a vast number of organizations could learn from.”12 This framework is tailor-made for judge advocates (JAs) interacting with clients directly and the Army doctrinal concept of “mission command.”13

Like the nurses at BID, the JA directly interfacing with the client is best positioned to help the client chart the legal course. The JA may be a junior captain interacting with a company commander on potentially preferring charges on Soldiers for a drug distribution ring in the commander’s footprint. The JA may also be the staff judge advocate (SJA) interacting with the commanding general (CG) on a proposed general order. Either way, in keeping with the principles of “mission command,” the attorney directly engaging with the client is to be empowered, and the rest of the organization supports that attorney.14

The challenge for more experienced JAs and organizations higher in the technical chain is to yield control to subordinates. A leader may understand the need to trust their action officers but still reconsider an acceptable end product because it is not what the leader expected. This harms the action officers’ confidence and does not empower them to take charge in the future. Leaders may and should still question subordinates, offer suggestions, and test their legal reasoning; while focusing solely on how the leader would do something is counterproductive, allowing room for differing approaches to a correct outcome is empowering.

For example, consider a battalion commander navigating a legitimately gray legal issue in a regulation. One way to assist this battalion commander would be for the action officer JA to provide advice, answer any questions, and prepare them to assume the risk of decision-making. This JA should be prepared to justify their research, have others test their conclusions, and to receive suggestions from leaders based on relevant experiences. And, if the JA’s advice is thorough and both legally and ethically defensible, the organizational leadership should support the JA in their role as the action officer and primary advisor for that issue. Alternatively, the SJA can advise the CG to issue a division-wide policy to fill the gap. A well-coordinated organization may recognize opportunities to assist commanders at various echelons and through multiple approaches.

Departing from the hierarchical style of leadership upon which the military is based may seem radical. However, as discussed below, senior leaders like General (Retired) McChrystal and Army publications on mission command already recognize this need. Moreover, the entire system does not need to change to fully implement this idea. Leaders can incorporate the web of inclusion within their offices by democratizing the workplace, training their teams using peer coaches, and implementing a decentralized leader development program (LDP) to guide and empower subordinates.

Within the web of inclusion, the leader is at the center of a web with lines interweaving, integrating, reinforcing, and connecting each of the other points within the web. (Credit: Vladyslav Bashutskyy-stock.adobe.com)

Democratization

Democratization means fostering a workplace that emphasizes and rewards action rather than position.15 The Web of Inclusion outlines a real-world military example of a naval aircraft carrier’s response to non-combat emergencies. Despite military rank disparity, when crises erupted, crewmembers worked on equal footing because too much was happening too quickly for senior leaders to know and process it all; they had to be comfortable trusting their subordinates.16

Emergencies should not be the only predicate to trust and empower subordinates. In more steady-state operations, leaders can consciously implement measures to accomplish that same end. First and foremost, for all permissible instances, leaders should explain the “why” to their subordinates.17 Explaining why nurtures good relationships within the office, helps subordinates see the bigger picture, and disseminates perspective and information to the edges of the web.18 It also signals that everyone is entitled to understand the reasons behind orders, which avoids the pitfalls of relegating those not in the know to second-class status.19 Even if something may not seem relevant to a subordinate or another section, including others coalesces the organization, encourages bigger thinking, and facilitates common understanding.20

Second, being mindful of potential subliminal signals that create barriers to feedback from all organization members will help leaders better receive feedback. For example, in a meeting, people seated at the table may feel more empowered to contribute to the conversation than those seated along the wall.21

Third, creating communal spaces beyond a conference room encourages congregation and free exchanges so people can hear what others in the office think.22 Even if the office’s physical layout is fixed, transforming the conference room into a communal lunch table creates the “hearth” effect.23 The hearth effect is the principle that “[e]ating or drinking with others cements an elemental bond and implies a basic trust.”24 Team members should seek to take advantage of available communal spaces to share meals and further develop relationships within the organization.

Fourth, supervisors should encourage individuals to take control of their environments.25 Individuals should be encouraged to decorate their offices fairly and freely—aside from legally, ethically, or professionally objectionable décor.26 Encouraging this small level of creativity helps promote autonomy and self-expression in the workplace, which contributes to overall job satisfaction.27

Training the Team to Be Empowered with Peer Coaches

The key to empowering subordinates is to ensure they are trained and equipped to wield that power. One way to do this beyond formal training efforts is to assign peer coaches immediately upon a new JA or paralegal’s arrival to the office, especially if the new arrival is coming straight from initial entry training. Peer coaching is similar to existing sponsorship programs, but the peer coach would also be required to do on-the-job training with the new office member.28 To ensure this training is useful, peer coaches and first-line supervisors would have a checklist of tasks. In a fixed timeframe, likely a few weeks or months, new teammates would have to complete various actions with the peer coach’s guidance in the regular course of business.29 In a brigade legal section, for example, a new paralegal would have to complete three Article 15s30 (summarized, company grade, and field grade), two separation packets (one in which the respondent is entitled to a board), and a charge sheet; serve as a reporter at a board; be assigned as the paralegal for a court-martial; brief a battalion commander; demonstrate the ability to update a case file in Military Justice Online; and draft a memorandum of reprimand before the peer coach program concludes.

Once new teammates have completed their coaching program, they should feel more confident with the routine tasks their coach has guided them through and emboldened to operate more independently as they have earned some level of trust. Greater confidence in one’s position as a trusted asset benefits team members of all ranks. Team members who feel trusted will also feel empowered in their roles, leading to greater professional satisfaction, increased collegiality throughout the organization, and deeper personal investment.31 “Those who feel ownership in their work tend to take a broad view of the potential and problems of their organization, rather than viewing everything from the perspective of their own department or division.”32

Using a Decentralized LDP to Guide and Empower the Workforce

One problem that leaders at BID experienced when implementing the web of inclusion was getting subordinates to accept the responsibility and autonomy that came with their empowerment.33 The BID leaders overcame this obstacle by being readily available and in consistent contact with subordinates to provide guidance, but not constant contact, which would have defeated the subordinates’ empowerment.34

In the military context, the use of LDP sessions is a common tool for building responsibility and autonomy.35 In the JAG Corps specifically, LDP sessions create a forum to conduct continuing legal education and mandatory training, cross-train the force, share knowledge and experiences, and improve weaknesses. Many OSJAs achieve positive results through effective, yet mindful, use of the LDP. A leader’s mindfulness of the form LDP sessions take ensures subordinates have maximum time and freedom to accomplish their duties. In-person communication is important because it forces immediate attention to the topic at hand, allows participants to hear a speaker’s tone, and presents an opportunity to be generally familiar with one’s colleagues.36 However, it is not the only tool to empower subordinates through training. Rather than conducting in-person LDP sessions for all training, many OSJAs have successfully decentralized LDP sessions to empower subordinates and provide more flexibility. There are several techniques for conducting a decentralized LDP.

White Papers

Tasking a junior officer or paralegal to write a white paper on a topic has several benefits. People can read it and digest it as their schedules permit, the subordinate tasked with writing the paper can learn new information or share their expertise, it gives subordinates a chance to shine in front of the whole office, it provides the whole office with a reference tool, and leaders can use it to evaluate the subordinate’s writing.

Discussion Boards

The widespread implementation of Microsoft Teams offers another option; offices may circulate materials (such as articles, podcasts, movies, books, and slide decks) in their team’s digital space and create a discussion board, inviting individuals to comment. Requiring everyone to post at least one question or comment is a forcing function for reviewing the materials. This option also enables subordinates to conveniently engage with the material; it fosters a dialogue as opposed to a traditional LDP, in which relevant information often flows one-way (speaker to audience).

Cohort Groups

Third, rather than conducting the LDP as an entire OSJA, individual sections may be given a discussion topic or training material to complete when it is most convenient for the smaller cohorts. This allows more individuals to lead training, allows mid-level leaders to choose the best time, and increases the chance of meaningful dialogue given the smaller group size and the group’s increased familiarity with one another.

Fostering a Sustainable Lifestyle

Beyond implementing the web of inclusion, which only covers office culture during the duty day, leaders should also be mindful of policies affecting subordinates’ lives outside of the office. Whether that means work-life balance, integration, or harmony, a leader’s business practices can ensure that Soldiers are able to enjoy sustainable lifestyles.37

Most leaders beginning a new job encourage some semblance of work-life balance or harmonizing family and career. As leaders immerse themselves into the position, the daily rigors and the pressure often increase; the balance becomes increasingly difficult to maintain and encourage others to maintain. Former Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston once tweeted, “Predictability and training management: two things that are easy to say, harder to do.”38 However, leaders’ mindfulness in delivering a consistent message throughout their tenure is important to remain as true to their initial ideals as possible. Two specific ways leaders can foster a sustainable lifestyle include consistently encouraging the use of leave and passes and reassessing what qualifies as an after-hours emergency.

The hearth effect is the principle that “[e]ating or drinking with others cements an elemental bond and implies a basic trust.” (Credit: Dajahof-stock.adobe.com)

Consistently Encourage Taking Leave and Pass

Army regulations encourage Service members to use an annual average of thirty days of leave.39 Barring reasonable mission demands, generalized taboos to taking leave outside of a permanent change of station (PCS) or holiday block leave, or any negative perceptions about leave that a leader perpetuates, can be harmful. Frequently, PCS moves involve what may seem like a zero-sum situation between the outgoing and the incoming stakeholders in a billet. The members of the Judge Advocate Legal Services are required to make prudent decisions that best care for the needs of the individual, the family, and the Army organization, which all compete for limited resources of time during transition periods.

Adhering to the Leaves and Passes regulation and empowering subordinates to make sensible schedules and PCS plans are beneficial approaches to help personnel keep mentally fit and give Soldiers and families the time to keep life as orderly as possible during stressful PCS moves.40

Pressure to cut leave short may also arise regarding the Department of Defense’s new secondary caregiver policies authorizing twelve weeks of leave for all parents.41 The most senior Army leaders recognized the potential consternation over this policy and withheld denial of the maximum amount of leave authorized to the first general officer in the chain of command.42 However, junior supervisors explicitly or implicitly discouraging this authorized leave is perilous due to its larger message regarding work-life harmony. Fostering an environment throughout the year that encourages subordinates to take leave and pass has tangible benefits. Namely, it boosts health and morale.43

Life events do not always occur during the summer PCS season or around the holidays, and supporting leave and pass privileges so Soldiers can recharge or be with their families should be an easy decision absent a major operational event. Encouraging leave and pass even when it seems inconvenient also forces cross-training, and the whole office emerges more capable. Leaders who readily approve leave and pass also show they trust their subordinates to manage their workload, boosting morale even further. Finally, when leaders take leave and pass, the benefits increase because they prepare their subordinates to step into the boss’s shoes. This develops subordinates to serve in the position full-time in the future and allows leaders to better assess subordinates’ potential for their next evaluation report.

Some leaders may be concerned about a consistently shorthanded office, but data from companies that have implemented unlimited paid time off (UPTO) or open leave policies shows these organizations have not experienced a flood to the door.44 “[Former] Netflix CEO Reed Hastings detailed in his 2020 book that while nailing down UPTO took years, he eventually found that ‘the freedom signals to employees that we trust them to do the right thing, which in turn encourages them to behave responsibly.’”45 Similarly, a “2018 survey showed workers with UPTO took fewer holidays than those with a fixed allocation.”46 Though a culture of liberally approving leave is not the same as UPTO, civilian open leave policies demonstrate that paternalistic demands are not what keep subordinates on task. Rather, the workplace culture drives individuals to work, underwork, or overwork.47 Aside from planned leave or pass, daily consideration of subordinates’ downtime also has tangible benefits, and leaders should be judicious about interrupting Soldiers after the duty day.

Reassessing the After-Hours Emergency

Individuals serving in the JAG Corps are generally comfortable with and capable of working hard. If a strong work ethic was not part of their ethos, they would not have met the standard to be an attorney or paralegal in the JAG Corps in the first place. With that conscientiousness comes the tendency, especially for young officers and paralegals, to stay at the office when there is still work to be done. However, leaders with more Army experience should put the relative importance of a task in perspective for the subordinate. They can do this by being deliberate about when they task subordinates, making an executive decision about what is worth a call to a subordinate at home, and leaving the office close to 1700 hours as a matter of routine.

Because leaders hold positional power, their subordinates will not only do what they ask but also make it their highest priority. With this power comes great responsibility, because if a leader emails their subordinate a question at 1700 hours, it does not matter that the leader wrote “no rush”; subordinates will be tempted to answer that question as soon as possible. One way around this is for the leader to schedule that email to send the next morning at 0900, write a note to self, or set a phone reminder to ask the subordinate tomorrow.

Similarly, Soldiers have all means of communication technology on them at any given time, such as personal smartphones, work smartphones, smart watches, and tablets. Such ubiquitous technology makes people available to others like never before. This creates unreasonable expectations in the workplace, even if they are unintentional. Consider that in the early 2000s, when many of today’s JAG Corps senior leaders entered the Army or were still early in their careers, cell phones were just starting to be widely available.48 Before cell phones, if a leader needed to talk to a subordinate on a Saturday, that leader would have to call the subordinate’s house, maybe leave a voicemail, and wait for the subordinate to return home, receive the message, and return the call. Delay was built into the communication process due to technology’s limitations.

Today, it is assumed people own a cell phone and can answer calls and texts quickly. Soldiers interviewed by Military.com in 2022 expressed “that senior noncommissioned officers and commanders are notorious for last-minute or late phone calls or texts, mostly with nonurgent updates or demanding information that could easily wait until the next day.”49 While serving as the commander of the 10th Mountain Division, Major General Milford Beagle Jr. recognized this, referring to it as “a constant digital leash” and restricted after-hours calls.50 In short, our collective expectation that others are available at any given moment has significantly changed. However, many individuals have not adjusted their mindset to the idea that just because our ability to reach others has changed does not mean the call’s level of importance has changed.

Today, it is assumed people own a cell phone and can answer calls and texts quickly. The SJA is in the best position to assume the risk that a low-level problem can wait until morning. (Credit: PBXStudio-stock.adobe.com)

Being thoughtful about whether something is immediately necessary prevents the threat of mentally exhausting the force through the inability to unplug.51 Such prevention benefits subordinates’ efforts to be the spouse, parent, family member, and friend they wish to be by protecting their schedule and impacting their presence at home.52 Improving perspectives and attitudes in the JAG Corps must begin at every level of leadership because all members influence the office’s culture. Trust that a leader consistently and appropriately gauges the relative importance of a potential office emergency is invaluable for an effective team.

Ultimately, fostering this culture plays the long game for the benefit of both individual OSJAs and the JAG Corps as a whole. Encouraging Soldiers to push themselves to the brink of clinical fatigue with the hope that they can take a less demanding assignment after a tough one is an irrational concept. First, there is no guarantee any Soldier’s follow-on assignment will be less demanding. Second, it only makes that person less productive in the less demanding assignment because the Soldier knows this is their chance to recharge. Third, it becomes so engrained in Soldiers that they must sustain this unsustainable pace that many do not take opportunities to recharge when they are present. These reasons demonstrate why cultural shifts are necessary to begin and sustain among members and leaders in the OSJA.

Conclusion

While implementing these changes may be challenging, sticking firmly to techniques that create a workplace in which employees are mentally and physically primed to be more productive during the duty day will reap the benefit of a sustainable operations tempo.

Admittedly, units enjoying successful teamwork and leadership are likely to already reflect one more of the positive approaches discussed above; members of these teams have maximized their capability to contribute and boost morale, and they are stewarding the profession according to a sustainable and resilient battle rhythm. For others, this is a reminder and a discussion point that junior officers and paralegals face common stressors that leaders can alleviate with the tools outlined above. These team members can achieve greater satisfaction and a more sustainable lifestyle if their leaders empower them, employ a decentralized LDP, limit after-hours calls, and encourage leave or pass requests to recharge.

Leaders must assess success on a scale that is more global than daily survival. Employing these tools is within a leader’s authority, and doing so will increase JAs’ and paralegals’ quality of life and nest directly with the Army’s broader People First effort. The Army has recognized that doing so will bolster mission accomplishment over the long term—leaders in our Corps who also put people first will enjoy leading a sharper and healthier organization. TAL

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MAJ Travers is the Chief of Military Justice at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

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Notes

1. James Kerr, Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life 11 (2013).

2. U.S. Dep’t of Army, The Army People Strategy 2 (2019) [hereinafter The Army People Strategy].

3. See, e.g., Steve Beynon, 10th Mountain Commander Says Leaders Need to Leave Soldiers Alone After Hours, military.com (June 9, 2022), https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/09/10th-mountain-commander-says-leaders-need-leave-soldiers-alone-after-hours.html.

4. See U.S. Dep’t of Army, Field Manual 7-22, Holistic Health and Fitness para. 1-6 (8 Oct. 2020) [hereinafter FM 7-22] (emphasizing the importance of individualization in training); Beynon, supra note 3.

5. Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams 4 (2015).

6. Sally Helgesen, The Web of Inclusion: Architecture for Building Great Organizations 19 (1995).

7. Id. at 20.

8. Id. at 261, 279.

9. Id. at 216; see also McChrystal, supra note 5, at 69, 83, 100, 111–12, 120.

10. Helgesen, supra note 6, at 145.

11. Id. at 137.

12. Id. at 132.

13. See U.S. Dep’t of Army, Doctrine Pub. 6-0, Mission Command: Command and Control of Army Forces para. 1-13 (31 July 2019) [hereinafter ADP 6-0].

14. Id. at vii, para. 1-14 (defining mission command as the Army’s “approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation”).

15. Helgesen, supra note 6, at 280.

16. Id. at 40–42.

17. See ADP 6-0, supra note 13, para. 1-50 (“Commanders write and communicate their commander’s intent to describe the boundaries within which subordinates may exercise initiative while maintaining unity of effort.”); id. para. 1-51 (“Empowered with trust, shared understanding, and commander’s intent, [subordinates] can develop the situation, adapt, and act decisively in uncertain conditions.”).

18. See Helgesen, supra note 6, at 10.

19. See id. at 114–15.

20. Id. at 208, 210; see also McChrystal, supra note 5, at 120, 163, 167, 174–75.

21. Helgesen, supra note 6, at 114–15, 208, 210.

22. See id. at 255, 260; McChrystal, supra note 5, at 160–61.

23. See Helgesen, supra note 6, at 256.

24. Id.

25. See id. at 271.

26. Intentional Leader with Cal Walters, #41: Brigadier General Joe Berger — On Empathy, People First Leadership, and Being a Beginner, at 1:09:55–1:10:21 (June 29, 2020) (downloaded using iTunes) [hereinafter Intentional Leader #41] (noting that when individuals have been in a job for more than a year but still do not have tokens or pictures on their wall or desk, it is often a signal that something is “not quite right”).

27. Helgesen, supra note 6, at 275.

28. Id. at 166–67.

29. See id. at 189.

30. UCMJ art. 15 (2022).

31. See Helgesen, supra note 6, at 20–22, 31–32.

32. Id. at 94.

33. Id. at 156.

34. Id. at 158.

35. See U.S. Dep’t of Army, Reg. 350-1, Army Training and Leader Development para. 1-16(b)–(c) (10 Dec. 2017) [hereinafter AR 350-1] (describing “a robust leader development program” as “a shared responsibility between the institutional Army (education or training institution), the operational force (organization and unit), and the individual”).

36. Jack Schafer & Marvin Karlins, The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over 140 (2015).

37. See Intentional Leader #41, supra note 26, at 45:30–46:00.

38. @USArmySMA, Twitter (June 8, 2022, 6:14 AM), https://twitter.com/USArmySMA/status/1534479088324431872?cxt=HHwWgMC-7bmmyMsqAAAA; see also Beynon, supra note 3.

39. See U.S. Dep’t of Army, Reg. 600-8-10, Leaves and Passes para. 2-2(c)(2) (3 June 2020) [hereinafter AR 600-8-10] (Leaders will “[e]ncourage and assist all Soldiers to use, on the average, 30 days of accrued leave each year.”).

40. Id. para. 4-7(c)–(d) (“Soldiers will usually be authorized not less than 30 days of leave in conjunction with PCS movement . . . . Soldiers should not be asked to take less than 30 days of leave between duty stations except for military operational requirements.”). See generally Patricia K. Tong et al., RAND Corp., RR-2304-OSD, Enhancing Family Stability During a Permanent Change of Station: A Review of Disruptions and Policies (2018), https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2304.html.

41. Memorandum from Under Sec’y of Def. to Sr. Pentagon Leadership et al., subject: Directive-type Memorandum 23-001 – “Expansion of the Military Parental Leave Program” (4 Jan. 2023); DOD Expands Military Parental Leave Program, Defense.gov, (Jan. 4, 2023), https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3259259/dod-expands-military-parental-leave-program.

42. All Army Activities Message, 018/2023, 061245Z Mar. 23, U.S. Dep’t of Army, subject: Expansion of the Military Parental Leave Program (MPLP) Implementation Guidance, para. 4.G.(2).

43. Caroline Castrillon, Why Taking Vacation Time Could Save Your Life, Forbes (May 23, 2021), https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2021/05/23/why-taking-vacation-time-could-save-your-life/?sh=3582994a24de; Lisa Frye, More People Are Taking Time Off, and That’s Good for Business, Soc’y for Hum. Res. Mgmt. (June 1, 2018), https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/workers-taking-more-vacation-.aspx; Rebecca Zucker, Thinking of Skipping Vacation? Don’t!, Harv. Bus. Rev. (Aug. 11, 2020), https://hbr.org/2020/08/thinking-of-skipping-vacation-dont.

44. See Bryan Lufkin, The Smoke and Mirrors of Unlimited Paid Time Off, BBC (May 23, 2022), https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220520-the-smoke-and-mirrors-of-unlimited-paid-time-off.

45. Id.

46. Id.

47. See id.

48. See Amanda Lenhart, Cell Phones and American Adults, Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Sept. 2, 2010), https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2010/09/02/cell-phones-and-american-adults; Ray Ali, History of Mobile Phones and the First Mobile Phone, USwitch (Apr. 11, 2023), https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/guides/history-of-mobile-phones.

49. Beynon, supra note 3.

50. Id.

51. See id.

52. Intentional Leader with Cal Walters, #34: LTG (Ret.) Bob Caslen (West Point Legend/USC President) — On Service, Character, & Failure, at 43:50–45:55 (Apr. 21, 2020) (downloaded using iTunes).