Thoughts on Leadership
By Jerry C. Elliott

Indian Country is still strong, alive and well. And why? Great leaders in Indian Country have paid the price before us. But leaders are made, not born. We don?ft need just educated Indians. We need those who can use their education and soar to new heights. We need men and women leaders. We need you.
Who do you think of when you think of a leader? And why? Actually, leadership applies to any profession. You might as well rid your minds of what leaders are or are not. You can be a leader of farmers, bus drivers, janitors?\you name it! What do you think I mean by that? The person who dares to face life?fs challenges and tackle its problems is in the truest sense a leader. Feathers don?ft make a chief or a warrior. Titles don?ft make a president or a king. Simply, leadership is about a way of life?\personal and professional. We?fre talking about empowerment: the ability to create our lives the way we want to live.
Thus, one secret of leadership is to be empowered. It?fs important to be all you want to be, all that you are. You must constantly strive to improve, to grow, to accept challenges and opportunities. Leadership is about how you conduct yourself in this world, in life. Remember, you are only as good as you are today.
The test of real leadership is about choices. Know that you have a choice in life about what you want to do and who you want to be. Everyone wants to be somebody. What do you want in life? Do you want to be an important person? You can be, and you are. You have great potential inside you if you would only tap into it. You can?ft buy it or borrow it from someone else. You are the match that lights the fire; you are the bomb ready to explode into excellence; you are the volcano ready to erupt and overflow with good things; you are the seed that grows to blossom and lets the world discover its beauty.
Each of you possesses the qualities of leadership. What holds you back? Not me, not anyone; only yourself. You?fre in control, in the driver?fs seat. This is life: to grow, to discover who you are; to realize the talents you have been given; to blossom forth, and to do something with them.
Leaders thrive on challenges. So, I challenge you. I challenge you to achieve excellence that will make the future point to you with even more pride than the present; to accomplish more than those of us who have gone before you; to make life obey you, not you obey it. I also challenge you to shoulder more responsibility, to launch out into the deep and do something, and to be strong, determined and persistent.
I have faith in you, not merely hope, that you will gain confidence and be empowered to accomplish more than you thought possible. I have faith you will not be afraid of the challenges facing you.
I have faith you will make your mark in this world. Indian country has never failed to produce good leaders, and I am confident that we will survive as a great people, as a great nation, because of you!
Older now, I pass the baton of courage and challenge to younger eyes. Will you, the leaders of tomorrow, be able to pass the inevitable tests and challenges of the future that will be handed to you, to us as a people, as a nation? Only time will tell and only you can make it happen. I did it, and so can you.

Jerry C. Elliott, Cherokee/Osage, is an American Indian Science and Engineering Society founder. He is a NASA physicist and recipient of the 2004 Ely S. Parker Award.