From Our President

Brothers and Sisters of the Indiana Elks Association:

WOW!!!! I never thought that I would be in this position. Kathy and I are honored to be your President and First Lady for the 2023-2024 fraternal year. I became a member of Hobart Lodge #1152 in February of 1984. My father, George, was my sponsor. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would ever become an Exalter Ruler, yet alone the State President, but here we are. Kathy and I look forward to visiting your Lodges and seeing all of the great things that Indiana Elks do for our communities.

My motto this year is “Indiana: a Pillar of Elkdom.” Webster’s Dictionary defines Pillar as “a firm upright support for a superstructure.” The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is our superstructure. It is the responsibility of every member to be a firm, upright support for the BPOE. Indiana needs to lead that charge in membership, ENF donations, support of Cancer Research and community involvement.

As members of the Elks, you are leaders. You are leaders in your Lodge and in your community. There are 7 Pillars of Leadership that I believe that we can all take back to our Lodges.

  • Character: This is the most important pillar of leadership. Your character defines who you are leading and where you will lead them. Your character is defined by the everyday decisions that you make.
  • Courage: Leadership requires courage. It takes courage to be the first to face the challenge. It takes courage to persevere when the obstacles seem overwhelming. It takes courage to get back up and try again when failure knocks you off your feet.
  • Confidence: Confidence is about having a knack for sound judgment and discernment. It’s about getting results. A confident leader trusts in the team and inspires action because he believes in himself and his colleagues.
  • Communication: Communication is the key to success in any team endeavor. A leader must communicate what they know with the team, they must draw out the information the need from the team, and they must ensure that the team is openly and freely communicating with each other.
  • Culture:  Like character, culture is cultivated with day-to-day decisions and actions. Culture is cultivated by setting an example, by demonstrating the culture that you desire to cultivate. A great leader inspires a culture of loyalty, duty, service, and vision.
  • Competence: A leader must demonstrate competence.to know everything or A leader knows how to draw on the competencies of the team. This means that one of the leader’s greatest competencies is team building. A competent leader will inspire competent people to join in on the mission. A competent leader isn’t afraid to delegate to the members of the team and understands that sharing the load will result in realizing increasingly greater levels of success.
  • Coach: A leader will develop a learning environment in which a drive to learn and do new things is deeply ingrained into the culture, because duty and service require learning new things.

Using these principles, together we can make the IEA and our Local Lodges a Pillar of Elkdom!!!!

Fraternally, Brian Pillar

Brian Pillar Presidents Pin