GOOD Spotlight: Erin Claire Jones

Human Design is a topic that keeps coming up in conversation throughout the GOOD community. We wanted to know more about this emerging personal development tool, so we sat down with Human Design expert and leadership coach, Erin Claire Jones. What did we learn? Well, it’s high time we step unabashedly into our highest potential, and the compass we’re seeking to help get us there is quite literally at our fingertips.

Okay, Erin, give it to us straight—what is Human Design and how does it benefit us? 

Human Design reveals your energetic DNA.

It sheds light on your emotional, psychological and energetic makeup, giving you the self-awareness and tools to align with your nature and step into your highest potential in every area of your life — in your career, partnership and relationships.

It is based on your exact time, date and place of birth.

The intention with Human Design is not to change who you are, but rather to give yourself permission to be you.

We’re all about stepping into our highest potential! Tell us more about how you got into this type of work. 

I came from the world of startups—I loved entrepreneurship and any job that involved interacting with people. I found myself continually working with companies that had big missions and an amazing team, yet there was so much dysfunction. It just felt like we were not fully leveraging the people we did have.

On the side, I had been exploring different personal development modalities. From yoga to the enneagram to reiki to kundalini to meditation—all the things.

Yet they felt like two separate worlds to me. My work and my personal growth journey.

When I was introduced to Human Design, everything clicked. It felt like the bridge I’d always been seeking. I had never found a system more grounded, tactical and actionable than Human Design. I immediately saw its potential in not only supporting individuals in aligning with their full potential, but its potential to serve as a tool to help teams become more harmonious, productive and happy. 

I was sold almost immediately.

We can definitely relate with that feeling of disconnect, and we hear the same from so many in the GOOD community that are on a quest to live a more harmonious, more balanced lifestyle. What would you say is a difference between human design and other tests (personality) and horoscopes? Is there a difference? 

Human Design not only reveals what we’re conscious of about ourselves, but also all the energetics underneath the surface.

So often, personality assessment tools (which can be highly effective) are based on us answering a questionnaire based on who we think we are. The answers are often impacted by where we are in our lives and why we’re taking the test. My results always vary significantly over time.

There’s something so simple and relieving about just using our exact time, date and place of birth to reveal our Human Design. In doing so, we see not only the things we’re conscious of but the energetics underneath the surface, too. Human Design gives us information about ourselves and our energetics that we have not had access to before.

It’s also not predictive. I’m not here to tell people what they’re going to do with their lives. I’m here to help them understand their unique operating system, so they can master their energy and discover their path for themselves.

That seems simple enough, yet so enormously helpful. Erin, what is the biggest challenge you have faced in your Human Design work?

Staying on path and not letting my fear of failure guide the way.

I launched my first Human Design company in 2015 and it felt like the world was not ready for it. I experienced so much resistance and kept pushing because I saw its potential.

I left the company for another opportunity in 2017 and begin to lose faith that the world would catch up to the magic that is Human Design.

But my partner encouraged me to keep trusting. In early 2018, Human Design began to take off and it’s been such an amazing and awe-inspiring journey to watch it grow and build over the last two years. People are ready for it now.

The work was in continuing to trust this was my dharma and and not letting fear govern my choices.

A fear of failure shows up in my personal Human Design, so my work was to observe it, without getting lost in it or letting it run the show.

That’s inspiring to hear. For so many of us, it can be hard to trust our own intuition and gifts, and it’s clear you’ve harnessed your own Human Design in a way that honors all the many parts of your own personal, unique nature. How can we apply Human Design into our everyday life? 

Once you learn your Human Design, you can truly use it in in every decision you make including how you’re picking opportunities, choosing friends and romantic partners, pursuing purpose and career—everything. 

It gives you a language and a framework to think about how you operate, and more importantly how you can find your flow.

What do you say to skeptics of this process? Is there anything in which Human Design can do for us that other practices cannot? 

It’s not a belief system. I’m never trying to convince anyone of a thing.

I encourage them to approach it openly and take the things that resonate and leave the rest.

Also, just because I tell someone they are a certain type does not mean they have to operate like that type. The idea is just that they often will find so much more satisfaction and success if they do.

I also remind them that it’s designed to be an experiment. The work is to integrate it into their lives and see what happens when they do. Don’t take my word for it. Do it yourself and see what happens.

I find honestly the skeptics are the ones that end up loving it the most.

The information itself is so specific, grounded and detailed and resonates on such a cellular level that they stop caring where it comes from because it’s helpful.

What is your favorite aspect of Human Design, either personally or something you have seen in a client? 

Just that it gives us permission to be who we are.

We already know all the things. Human Design gives us the language and the tools to step into it. I’m not telling people stuff they don’t know. I’m giving them a language for things they’ve always known, but never had words for.

I also love Human Design in the context of relationships.

Our biggest challenges in life tend to be when we expect the world to operate just like us—but it seldom does. Knowing your unique design as well as the designs of the people you spend intimate time with cultivates a level of empathy and collaboration that turns moments of potential tension into moments of palpable connection and understanding.

Wow, thank you, Erin, for sharing so much rich insight into all things Human Design! We’re excited to continue the conversation.

Hear more from Erin at our January 7 pop-up in NYC. Reserve your seat here.