Tribute to Robert S. Hartman
Robert S. Hartman, PhD was born in Berlin, Germany on January 27, 1910. A brilliant and energetic person, he studied at the German College of Political Science, the University of Paris (La Sorbonne), the London School of Economics, and Berlin University. By the age of 22 he had earned his law degree and began to teach at Berlin University along with working as an assistant district court judge.
In the early stages of his career Hartman’s life would change forever. He was witness to the emerging Hitler “system” and in Hitler he saw a man who was not only evil, he saw a man who was able to organize evil. Hartman wondered that if it was possible to organize evil, was it possible to organize goodness? He spent the rest of his life in the pursuit of that answer.
Hartman openly opposed and spoke out against Hitler and all that he represented. Evading many brushes with death, Hartman faced constant danger. He was able to escape to England on a falsified passport just as the Nazis closed in on him. In England, he was hired by the Walt Disney Corporation to strategize and help them open the company up in parts of Europe and South America. Hartman quickly rose through the Disney ranks, even serving as Walt Disney’s personal advisor.
However, Hartman was continually driven by the idea that Hitler had learned how to organize evil and if that was possible, would it be possible to organize goodness? The quest for that answer led him to leave Disney and begin his studies and research in the field of axiology—the science of value. His work in axiology established the relationship of values to judgment. As his work relates to business, he was talking about excellence and quality outcomes. .
It was this thinking that led him to construct the Hartman Value Profile – a tool that has been called one of the most mathematical, scientific, and logically based assessment instruments ever created. Dr. Stephen Byrum’s personal work with Dr. Hartman, along with four decades of assessment interpretations and experience with the Value Profile, is the foundation for the Judgment Index™.
Hartman spent the rest his life researching, writing, lecturing and teaching. He earned his PhD at Northwestern University in 1946 and he taught throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe, including at Ohio State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Yale University. Dr. Hartman was a former research professor at the University of Tennessee and the National University of Mexico. Known as the “father of modern axiology,” Hartman authored more than ten books and over 100 articles. Before his untimely death in 1973, Robert S. Hartman’s work was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his promotion of human self-understanding, the advancement of the most important human values, and the implications of his work for transforming life in the most positive ways.
Blog