In the summer of 2019, more than a decade after Deborah Majoras joined the Procter & Gamble Co. as general counsel, the attorney made a move unusual both for herself and the legal profession: She took a nine-week sabbatical.

According to Majoras—who by that point was chief legal officer and secretary for the consumer goods giant—the decision to take a break was not exactly intuitive. But as it turned out, Majoras said, “it was one of the best things I have ever done.”