There’s a lot of conversation right now around leadership, but not enough around connection. And if you talk to DeDe Halfhill, she’ll tell you that’s where most leaders get it wrong.

I met DeDe when she first moved to New Braunfels, at a bunco party of all places. At the time, you wouldn’t have guessed her background. She served as a Colonel in the United States Air Force, advising some of the highest levels of leadership in our country. But that’s not how she showed up. She showed up as someone looking to connect.

That matters.

DeDe is now a leadership strategist and speaker, and her work focuses on something that’s becoming more and more relevant across industries, real human connection. Not surface-level. Not transactional. The kind that actually builds trust, drives collaboration, and creates stronger teams.

One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation was how often leaders fall into extremes. They either shut emotion down completely, thinking that’s what makes them strong, or they lean so far into it that clarity and accountability start to slip.

The work is in the middle.

When I asked her what advice she gives to leaders, she said this: be real. It sounds simple, but it’s not easy. We all have the skills; empathy, listening, connection, but using them when things get uncomfortable or high-stakes is where leadership actually shows up.

Her work has been featured in Dare to Lead, and today she works with organizations across the country to help leaders find that balance between connection and accountability.

In a growing community like New Braunfels, where leadership is evolving quickly across industries, this kind of perspective matters. Because at the end of the day, people don’t follow titles.

They follow people they trust.