+ Models ORGDYN-650; No. of Pages 8 Please cite this article in press as: P.B. Lester, et al., Resilience within the workplace, Organ Dyn (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j. orgdyn.2018.01.005 Resilience within the workplace: Taking a cue from the U.S. military Paul B. Lester, Gretchen Vogelgesang Lester, Kristin N. Saboe INTRODUCTION The 21st century has been challenging for global citizens. After decades of relative peace and economic growth, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States of America, followed by wars in the Middle East and additional terrorist attacks around the world, and the global economic crisis starting in 2007 subjected entire generations to nega- tive experiences beyond their control. The national unem- ployment rate in the U.S. more than doubled between May 2007 and October 2009, climbing from 4.4% to 10%. Savings in retirement funds alone decreased $2.4 trillion in the first two quarters of 2008, putting retirement at risk for millions of global citizens. Loyal and highly effective employees across industries lost their jobs because they fell prey to market forces and tough decisions made by senior C-suite leadership. It took over a decade for the global economy to recover, with millions of individuals continuing to be dis- placed by new wars, famine, and structural changes in local economies. Thriving in difficult and austere conditions requires individuals and collective society to exhibit resi- lience in the face of adversity and challenges. The concept of resilience highlights that hardship is not all bad. While some individuals may continue to struggle during tough times, others will see and act on an opportunity to persevere by bouncing back and growing from their experiences. This ability to bounce back in the face of adversity is a hallmark of the psychological construct known as resilience, a concept largely studied by childhood development researchers and practitioners as far back as the 1970s. More recently, the concept of resilience saw a strong resurgence in the leadership and management domains following the start of the 21st century. Quite simply, scholars and practitioners alike needed to better understand resilience because the uncertain global conditions demanded it; leaders needed to know how to hire for it, train it, and leverage it. Likewise, the instability and uncertainty of the first turbulent decade of the century required employees to embrace the concept of resilience if they were to succeed despite factors outside of their control working against them. More than any other present generation, the brunt of this instability was felt by the Millennial generation who entered the workforce for the first time while enduring and continuing to endure notably high levels of underemployment and crushing student loan debt — hallmarks of the “new normal”. Those most affected by the attacks on peace, the soldiers fighting wars since 2001, can teach us much about resilience. Though the Department of Defense is the largest employer in the world, dwarfing Walmart by more than 1 million employ- ees, its organizations became so overtaxed in the early 2000s that it was commonplace for individual servicemembers to spend 12—18 months deployed to combat, while spending less than a year back home with families between deploy- ments to “reset”. And, “reset” periods were far from idle time, with most servicemembers spending much of that 8— 10 months either preparing to go back to combat, in profes- sional training courses, or in transition periods while moving from one military post to another. Some servicemembers intending to leave the service at the conclusion of their contractual obligation saw their service requirements extended for several months or even more than a year because their skills were sorely needed for the war effort. As the wars began to take a physical and psychological toll on servicemembers, senior leadership within several of the Department of Defense military departments (e.g., Army, Navy, Air Force) recognized the need for resilience and invested heavily in measuring, training, and developing resilience; hundreds of millions were spent on resilience programs and millions of man hours were dedicated — and continue to be dedicated — to the resilience development endeavor. And, though the final chapter on the military's resilience development effort has yet to be written, there is Organizational Dynamics (2018) xxx, xxx—xxx Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect jo u rn al h om ep ag e: ww w.els evier.c o m/lo c ate/o rg d yn https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2018.01.005 0090-2616/Published by Elsevier Inc.