{"id":2081,"date":"2026-10-20T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/?p=2081"},"modified":"2026-10-20T19:41:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T19:41:02","slug":"leading-with-head-heart-and-hands-dr-katrina-hutchins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/leading-with-head-heart-and-hands-dr-katrina-hutchins\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading with Head, Heart and Hands: Dr. Katrina Hutchins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Katrina Hutchins entered higher education by following her passion. After recognizing that people spend most of their lives at work, she launched a consulting company with a mission to help professionals thrive and experience true wellness in their daily work.<\/p>\n<p>Today, she brings that passion to Furman University, where she is an adjunct professor in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/innovation-and-leadership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">M.S. in Innovation and Leadership<\/a> program and guides students through personal and professional transformation.<\/p>\n<h3>Leading in Uncertain Times<\/h3>\n<p>Hutchins teaches Leading in Uncertain Times, a course offered in the M.S. in Innovation and Leadership program. Community members can also enroll in the course to earn a standalone professional certificate. The credit-bearing course, offered through Furman\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/innovationlab.furman.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Innovation Lab<\/a>, can be stacked toward a Furman master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n<p>The course focuses on how to stay well amid uncertainty, especially when change is outside a person\u2019s control. Rapid change takes a toll, and the human spirit grows fatigued when change is constant, Hutchins explains. She teaches the course around the belief that people deserve to thrive, not just survive, in a work environment.<\/p>\n<p>Students examine challenges through shared models of leadership, communication, crucial conversations and conflict management. The course emphasizes interpersonal awareness, encouraging students to recognize that people bring their whole selves to work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContrary to popular belief, we cannot leave a part of ourselves at the proverbial door. That does not happen,\u201d Hutchins notes. \u201cEvery student that I have the opportunity to work with, I first meet them as humans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the course, Hutchins guides students through core questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do we have crucial conversations well?<\/li>\n<li>How do we negotiate well?<\/li>\n<li>How do we manage conflict well?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dedicated reflection helps students turn these concepts into growth. Hutchins observes students embracing their responsibility to lead well, especially in uncertain situations.<\/p>\n<p>Hutchins structures engagement around three questions, which she describes as head, heart and hands:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What do I think about it?<\/li>\n<li>How do I feel about it?<\/li>\n<li>What am I going to do about it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Professional Coaching<\/h3>\n<p>In addition to teaching leadership, Hutchins also teaches a Professional Coaching course. Students work with professional coaches while developing their own coaching skills. Students practice real-world scenarios and interactions with peers to build their coaching mindset. They learn how to position themselves as supportive helpers rather than therapists. These interactive experiences help students immediately apply effective coaching strategies in real time.<\/p>\n<h3>Guiding Capstone Success<\/h3>\n<p>Hutchins also serves as a capstone adviser. She guides, informs and challenges students as they transform their ideas into polished final presentations. For Hutchins, the capstone represents the culmination of all the courses she teaches.<\/p>\n<p>When students begin their capstones, they may not know what idea they want to develop. This stage requires them to navigate uncertainty as they determine possibilities and define their project focus.<\/p>\n<p>As an adviser, she coaches students to revisit what they learned throughout the program, guiding and encouraging them to apply their learning in new ways.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s when all of their learning starts to come full circle,\u201d Hutchins says. \u201cYou&#8217;re being coached, but also coach yourself now through this process. This is an uncertain time. How do you lead yourself well through this period of uncertainty as you&#8217;re developing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In one case, a student initially planned to create a nonprofit for their capstone project. Drawing on the lessons learned throughout the program, Hutchins challenged them to take a more innovative approach. The result was an app with the potential to reach and benefit a much broader audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s learning without walls,\u201d Hutchins says.<\/p>\n<h3>Preparing Tomorrow\u2019s Leaders<\/h3>\n<p>Graduates leave the MSIL program equipped with tools they can apply immediately. The program supports students wherever they are in their careers, from recent graduates building workforce readiness skills to experienced professionals seeking workforce development.<\/p>\n<p>Hutchins equips students to lead people who are viewed as humans first. She wants her students to feel her authenticity and feel seen, heard and valued as a whole person. She hopes students finish the program not only ready to lead, but ready to make a lasting impact on those around them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery morning that you wake up, you are leaving a legacy,\u201d Hutchins says. \u201cLive and lead in such a way that someone will remember and want to continue your legacy when you\u2019re no longer there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Katrina Hutchins entered higher education by following her passion. After recognizing that people spend most of their lives at work, she launched a consulting company with a mission to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":445,"featured_media":2099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[223,42,133,228],"class_list":["post-2081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation-and-leadership","tag-furman-innovation-lab","tag-furman-university","tag-graduate-studies","tag-innovation-and-leadership"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2081"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2104,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081\/revisions\/2104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/graduate-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}