Dr. David L. Harkins

I work at the intersection of people, culture, and systems, helping leaders and organizations make sense of change when familiar frameworks no longer hold the same truths. My work focuses on how meaning, identity, and shared understanding shape what is possible in complex social systems, particularly in moments of uncertainty, transition, and fragmentation.

I am especially interested in this moment in our history because inherited models of leadership, organization, and progress are increasingly mismatched with the complexity of the challenges we face.

I explore these questions through research, writing, speaking, and advisory work. I teach at Belmont University, where my focus is entrepreneurial approaches to leadership, systems thinking, innovation leadership, and social innovation and impact.

I am also co-founder and president of Human Works Group Inc., and a co-founder of the Center for Collective Transformation.

My research and writing explore the human experience within systems and culture, whether in companies, institutions, or communities. I am particularly interested in organizational culture, collective empathy, entrepreneurial thinking, leadership for sustainable change, and creativity in complex problem-solving.

At the core of my work is a belief that entrepreneurial thinking, understood not simply as venture creation but as a way of seeing and acting, can unlock new possibilities for positive social impact.