Dr. Helen Harkness
I helped
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE OVER A SPAN OF OVER FOUR DECADES
of Our founder, Dr. Helen Harkness, passed away in February of 2021. Right up to her last breath she was helping people get out of pain (or the “darkest night” as she called it) and on to finding joy in their work.
She was a grower – of people and of trees. She loved both deeply.
Helen could instantly sense a person’s strengths, and then she would immediately start to allow you to use those qualities to shine. She gave you confidence until you could supply it to yourself. By being crystal clear on who she was and what she had to offer the world, she was able to help so many others discover that for themselves.
My Story
How I Got Started
Most people are beginning to close out their professional life by the age of 50 – or at least that’s how it used to be. Dr. Helen Harkness understood years ago that this idea is outdated and unrealistic. At a time when conventional wisdom would have retired her, she read, researched, spearheaded the re-careering movement, and founded Career Design Associates in 1978!
When Dr. Harkness built and moved to her current home, on a 10-acre lot, the former burned-out cotton farm had only one tree. Today, it is a forest of more than 700 trees in all stages of growth, and a veritable garden of flowers, shrubs, vegetables and fruit.
Dr. Harkness is the author of four books, creator of dozens of videos, contributor to dozens of journals and publications, and speaker at well over 100 conferences, professional meetings, and company retreats. She has mentored more than 15,000 students, career-changers, job seekers, entrepreneurs, visionaries and futurists. Well into her seventh decade of work, writing and research, Dr. Harkness founded a non-profit organization, Career Design Foundation (CDF). The foundation is geared to educating students on career opportunities as a primary incentive to encourage learning, and help them to develop interests that will benefit both students and employers in the rapidly changing 21st century.
She firmly believed making the right decisions early on means they can pursue a purpose and worklife that will provide them with both meaning and money. Read more here
