Our Founding Story and Renewed Purpose

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 Booz Allen 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 Booz Allen 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.

In the Army, there was no shortage of complex, high-stakes jobs that needed to work in concert for mission success. It was the perfect place for Ed to put his theories to the test. Embedded in the Army’s bureaucracy, Ed could see its inner workings and what—and, more importantly, who—made it tick. Reviewing reports, directing the organization of statistics, and centralizing “personnel control,” Ed applied his business experience to the war effort. His service was honorable, and his learnings were invaluable for what came next.

In 1919, Ed returned to civilian life and got back to business. In the process, he helped shape a new profession: management consulting. In a promotional leaflet, he described himself as a “business analyst” ready to provide businesses a national service. And he did just that.

After changing his company’s name to Business Surveys, he picked up a marquee client in 1925: the United States Gypsum Company. There, as in the Army, he embedded himself in the company and built what would these days be called a performance culture. Ed surveyed the company from top to bottom and delivered a diagnosis: “There are too many motors and too few dynamos,” he told a group of managers. Too many managers were consuming power rather than generating it. He followed up with self-development plans for management to kickstart the necessary transformation.

In the words of one of his Booz Allen partners, Ed had “a certain spiritual quality and sense for human relationships,” backed by unshakable confidence in people’s ability to improve themselves.

As new members joined the company and Booz Allen’s client list grew, the company’s foundational DNA remained unchanged. Transformation begins and ends with people—they are the dynamos. Technology is an accelerant. Fast forward to 2016 and Vision 2020: When it was time to put a stake in the ground and declare our purpose, it was no surprise that we placed people—not companies, agencies, or technology—at the center.

“Our purpose statement is to empower people to change the world. We empower ourselves, we empower our clients, and that’s really important to us,” said Chief People Officer Aimee George Leary.

“Technology at its root is really a people business,” said Civil Sector President Richard Crowe. “The differentiator usually has a first and last name. It’s the men and women who come into work every day. It’s their enthusiasm for the mission, their curiosity about learning more about the mission, and their desire to excel. And if you can kind of harness that energy around any problem, whether it’s technical or not, you can usually get to a better outcome.”

Ed Booz would no doubt agree.