Just three years after founding The Business Research Service in 1914, Edwin Booz was drafted into the U.S. Army. The small survey company that would eventually become known as ϺAPP Hamilton was put on hold as World War I raged. Under mentor and former professor Walter Dill Scott, who oversaw the Army’s personnel system, Ed went from private to major in the Inspector General’s Department in two years. How did he rise so quickly, and what does that say about the DNA of ϺAPP today?
The answer traces back to Ed’s years as a graduate student studying psychology at Northwestern University. There he developed a hypothesis: What if he combined the latest in psychological techniques with intuitive good sense to help find the right people for the right job? Maybe if he focused on people and organizational structure, he could help improve businesses across industries.