When she and six other women started the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute 24 years ago, Marj Flemming never could have imagined where she would find herself on Thursday evening, where 750 people gathered for the organization’s annual Impact dinner.
“It’s hard to believe where it is today,” Flemming said. “We started the group because we thought there was a need. The need was huge.”
The event at the Chattanooga Convention Center featured speaker DeDe Halfhill, an Air Force colonel whose human-centered approach to leadership landed her a place in the 2018 bestseller “Dare To Lead” by Brenè Brown. It was in a local Dare to Lead training session that the chair of the Impact dinner first heard Halfhill’s story and became determined to convince her to speak at the organization’s signature event.
“I’m an ex-military wife, and I understand the barriers women face in the military,” said Daisy Maurya-Ballard. “I knew I needed to bring her to Chattanooga.”
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / DeDe Halfhill speaks at the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute’s 15th annual Impact event was held at the Chattanooga Convention Center on February 27, 2020.During her presentation to the group, Halfhill shared the challenges she has encountered as a military leader, and as a leader committed to authenticity, vulnerability and building trust with her teams. A focus on language has been at the heart of her own work since Halfhill researched the differences between the Air Force manual from 2011 and the manual from 1948 during a leadership course she took in the military in 2014.