Cucina, Walmsley, Gast, Martin, and Curtin (2017) started an important dialogue about survey key driver analysis (SKDA). We believe that promoting more useful and valid ways to understand survey data is critical not only for the organizations we serve, but also for advancing the relevancy of our field. We use the terms useful and valid quite intentionally. “Useful” is driven by our practitioner side, but “valid” is driven by our science side. It is the science that often sets industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology apart from other fields. But in some ways, it also holds us back from being timely and relevant. Overall, we believe that the focal article erred too much on the science side.

The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and its Foundation have increasingly focused on linking science to practice, and to that end have partnered with Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and its Foundation to create the Human Resource Management (HRM) Impact Award for firms demonstrating great practices in evidence-based human capital and management practices. Jack in the Box, the 2016 winner of this award, was so honored because of its integration of surveys and analytic models with leadership practices to understand, predict, and manage the right people drivers of important business outcomes. Instead of a research paper, we have chosen to share their story through conversational interview questions with the various stakeholders who contributed to the journey leading to the award and, in so doing, provide key lessons for others wishing to increase the impact of human capital in their organizations.