(Sept. 14, 2017) An impressive crowd turned up at the yacht club Monday night in Ocean Pines to greet new General Manager John Bailey after his first day of work.
Bailey and his wife, Meredith, had dinner with most of the board members upstairs in the banquet room and then, after a slight delay, the doors opened to the public at around 7:30 p.m.
Bailey did not disappoint. He and Meredith stood, smiling and shaking hands with the hundreds of community members who patiently waited for their turn to speak with him.
Although he had not planned to address the assembled crowd, the occasion demanded it.
He gathered himself and stood at the back of the long room, next to Board President Doug Parks.
“Welcome!” a woman in the crowd shouted.
“Thank you for the welcome,” Bailey replied.
He joked that, as the son of a preacher, his loud voice was gotten honestly. It easily filled the room.
“We’re real excited to be here,” he said. “And thank you for the turnout … this shows a lot, that you’re engaged in the community and you want to be engaged in the success of the community.
“We’re not here for very long on the planet, [but] we’re not here to just get by – we’re here to thrive,” Bailey continued. “That’s what I hope we can do together – myself, my wife, the staff, you as the residents, the board – that we will thrive as a community.”
Bailey said exciting opportunities existed in virtually every corner of Ocean Pines. Again, he said he and his wife and two children, Chase and Augusta, were excited to be there.
“We’ve been coming here for the last six or seven years on vacation, so it’s not an unknown entity to us,” he said. “I’ll be blunt – becoming the general manager of Ocean Pines has been on my list. I wanted this job. I told the board that.
“I intend to be here for 15 years – that will get me through retirement,” Bailey continued, drawing applause and laughter from the crowd. “In this line of work, that’s a long time. I recognize that, but that’s what we’re shooting for. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just tell everybody to go with the bartender.”
Earlier in the evening, Bailey spoke to the Gazette about his first day on the job, which he described as a “good, healthy, long day.”
He said he met with department heads at 9 a.m., and then gathered with about 100 Ocean Pines staffers in the community center gym.
“I spoke to them for about half an hour and we talked about the hiring process and what we went through and then a little bit about who I was – not just my resume, but who I am as a person,” Bailey said. “I’m the son of a preacher and my dad was my best friend. He passed away a few years ago, but my mom is 94. I told them if anybody gives me any trouble, I’m sending them to mom!
“We talked about how I’m not a micromanager and my job is not to micromanage,” he continued. “I’d rather have staff be free to think and to act, and it’s not errors of co-mission, but it’s errors of o-mission that bother me. My job is to provide options and recommendations to the board and that was the department heads’ advice to me.
“For individual employees, they’re hired for a purpose – they’re hired for some reason, whether it’s their expertise, their skill set or just their desire to work. My job is to free you up to do that,” Bailey said. “We are a team and everybody’s excited. I said, ‘we’re good – we’re going to go to great, are you with me?’ And then I asked them again, ‘are you with me?’ and everybody said yes. So, I said, ‘let’s get to work.’”
Parks said he was impressed with the turnout.
“The number of people that have shown up today really is a testament to the importance of the position of GM and how instrumental it is in operating and providing the kind of services that we need to provide to association membership,” Parks said. “[The level of participation] is great and I hope we can continue it.”
Board Vice President Cheryl Jacobs said she was also pleased.
“I’m so happy that Mr. Bailey has joined Ocean Pines and he has a lovely wife that he brought with him, Meredith, and this is a great opportunity for the community to meet and greet him tonight and get a sense of the experience that he brings with him,” she said. “We look forward to a much better year, going forward.”
Bailey and his wife, Meredith, had dinner with most of the board members upstairs in the banquet room and then, after a slight delay, the doors opened to the public at around 7:30 p.m.
Bailey did not disappoint. He and Meredith stood, smiling and shaking hands with the hundreds of community members who patiently waited for their turn to speak with him.
Although he had not planned to address the assembled crowd, the occasion demanded it.
He gathered himself and stood at the back of the long room, next to Board President Doug Parks.
“Welcome!” a woman in the crowd shouted.
“Thank you for the welcome,” Bailey replied.
He joked that, as the son of a preacher, his loud voice was gotten honestly. It easily filled the room.
“We’re real excited to be here,” he said. “And thank you for the turnout … this shows a lot, that you’re engaged in the community and you want to be engaged in the success of the community.
“We’re not here for very long on the planet, [but] we’re not here to just get by – we’re here to thrive,” Bailey continued. “That’s what I hope we can do together – myself, my wife, the staff, you as the residents, the board – that we will thrive as a community.”
Bailey said exciting opportunities existed in virtually every corner of Ocean Pines. Again, he said he and his wife and two children, Chase and Augusta, were excited to be there.
“We’ve been coming here for the last six or seven years on vacation, so it’s not an unknown entity to us,” he said. “I’ll be blunt – becoming the general manager of Ocean Pines has been on my list. I wanted this job. I told the board that.
“I intend to be here for 15 years – that will get me through retirement,” Bailey continued, drawing applause and laughter from the crowd. “In this line of work, that’s a long time. I recognize that, but that’s what we’re shooting for. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just tell everybody to go with the bartender.”
Earlier in the evening, Bailey spoke to the Gazette about his first day on the job, which he described as a “good, healthy, long day.”
He said he met with department heads at 9 a.m., and then gathered with about 100 Ocean Pines staffers in the community center gym.
“I spoke to them for about half an hour and we talked about the hiring process and what we went through and then a little bit about who I was – not just my resume, but who I am as a person,” Bailey said. “I’m the son of a preacher and my dad was my best friend. He passed away a few years ago, but my mom is 94. I told them if anybody gives me any trouble, I’m sending them to mom!
“We talked about how I’m not a micromanager and my job is not to micromanage,” he continued. “I’d rather have staff be free to think and to act, and it’s not errors of co-mission, but it’s errors of o-mission that bother me. My job is to provide options and recommendations to the board and that was the department heads’ advice to me.
“For individual employees, they’re hired for a purpose – they’re hired for some reason, whether it’s their expertise, their skill set or just their desire to work. My job is to free you up to do that,” Bailey said. “We are a team and everybody’s excited. I said, ‘we’re good – we’re going to go to great, are you with me?’ And then I asked them again, ‘are you with me?’ and everybody said yes. So, I said, ‘let’s get to work.’”
Parks said he was impressed with the turnout.
“The number of people that have shown up today really is a testament to the importance of the position of GM and how instrumental it is in operating and providing the kind of services that we need to provide to association membership,” Parks said. “[The level of participation] is great and I hope we can continue it.”
Board Vice President Cheryl Jacobs said she was also pleased.
“I’m so happy that Mr. Bailey has joined Ocean Pines and he has a lovely wife that he brought with him, Meredith, and this is a great opportunity for the community to meet and greet him tonight and get a sense of the experience that he brings with him,” she said. “We look forward to a much better year, going forward.”