Biography

Follett was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and was educated at Thayer Academy, Boston. Her studies at Radcliffe College, Massachusetts, for a degree in philosophy, political science, history and law were interrupted by spells in England and France, where she studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, and in Paris.

After graduating summa cum laude, she became involved in social work with the poor in Boston and developed centres for education, social services, vocational training and providing work placement. Her first book, in 1896, was on politics.

By the early 1920s she had begun lecturing, and she spoke at the Oxford University Summer Management Conferences. As a consequence of her work in England she met Urwick, whose regard for her as a pioneer led to his being one of her primary promoters.

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