Harkness Consulting Solutions reached its sixth year with a record few small firms manage. The company grew without outside capital, kept clients across repeated engagements, and carved steady ground in public, nonprofit, and higher education work. Revenue rose sharply over five years. Retention stayed high. Expansion plans moved from idea to timetable.
Founded by Melody Harkness Mobele, the firm operates from New York State and works across the Northeast. Projects focus on change management, workforce development, operational consulting, and strategic planning. Strategic planning stands as its strongest seller. Most clients return for continued services with new projects. Many stayed for years, relying on HCS as their go-to operational consultant for their business needs.
The firm’s status as a woman-owned business shaped early expectations from peers and clients. Growth arrived through referrals, repeat contracts, and a narrow focus on problems organizations faced during moments of strain. No venture funding softened early risks. No parent firm absorbed losses. Each contract carried weight.
Public agencies and nonprofits kept coming back. Work continued after pilot projects ended. Contracts expanded after leadership changes. Trust formed through delivery and candor. Results mattered more than size.
“I built the firm slowly on purpose,” Melody Harkness said. “Every engagement had to stand on its own merit, without a safety net.”
Building without A financial backstop
Early years brought uneven cash flow and long hours. The firm stayed small by choice. Hiring followed demand rather than forecasts. Systems grew through trial and correction. Clients saw the same senior leadership at every stage.
Planning work avoided templates. Each organization arrived with distinct pressures, governance rules, and political realities. Solutions followed context rather than slides. Staff listened before drafting plans. Language stayed plain. Recommendations tied directly to daily operations.
Public sector work required patience. Procurement cycles moved slowly. Accountability rules tightened margins. Harkness Consulting Solutions accepted those limits and built schedules around them. Over time, agencies trusted the firm with larger scopes.
Nonprofits valued consistency. Boards shifted. Funding rose and fell. The firm stayed present during lean periods and growth spurts alike. Repeat engagements followed leadership transitions, a rare outcome in the sector.
Growth reached a turning point in its sixth year. Melody Harkness stepped fully into the chief executive role after years of balancing ownership with hands-on delivery. The move signaled readiness for scale without losing intimacy.
“Stepping into full-time leadership felt overdue,” she said. “The firm had earned the right to grow with intention.”
Equity-Informed Work And Steady Returns
Projects increasingly addressed equity-informed organizational change. The firm framed equity as operational reality rather than rhetoric. Policies, workflows, and decision rights took priority over slogans. Clients asked for clarity, not slogans.
Organizations turned to the firm during restructurings and leadership turnover. Public agencies sought guidance during service expansions and innovative initiatives. Nonprofits leaned on the firm while redefining missions under fiscal pressure. Each sector carried different rules. The work adjusted accordingly, navigating complexity with grace.
Repeat engagements drove longevity. Clients returned after leadership changes, audits, and budget cycles. Trust built through candor about limits and trade-offs. Industry diversity is what makes HCS unique. Their ability to quickly understand the nature of each client’s work, their operational realities, and sector-specific constraints, and then adapt our approach to meet their business and organizational needs is what allows them to sustain clients across a breadth of industries.
Six years in, national expansion sits on the agenda. Public sector work remains central. Nonprofit partnerships continue. Private sector inquiries have grown. The firm plans growth without abandoning its core mission, to build stronger leaders, collaborative communities, healthier organizations, and sustainable businesses.
Harkness Consulting Solutions stands as proof that steady progress still matters. Size never became the goal. Staying useful did. Clients noticed.
