By Jaime E. Marine
jmarine@sjnewsco.com
ALLOWAY TWP. - Three of Salem County's top business leaders shared their personal success stories, and some leadership tips, with members of the Salem County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday morning during the 7th annual Leadership Breakfast at Ranch Hope.
David Bailey Jr., CEO of Ranch Hope, Joan Baillie, provost at Salem Community College, and Rev. Dave Bailey Sr., founder of Ranch Hope, shared with the crowd of approximately 50 business people their philosophies for being successful leaders.
"Good is the enemy of great," Bailey Jr. stressed. "We are not always great, but we have to strive not to settle."
He also told the group they cannot take things personally, they should embrace taking risks, give their all in everything they do, stay young, and pray.
"Every day we have to give our all," Bailey Jr. said, adding Ranch Hope is looking forward to opening a juvenile diabetes unit in December. "Get involved with kids, mentor, and volunteer your time."
Ranch Hope's Alloway campus provides a residential treatment care facility for adolescent boys, shelter services for boys and girls and Strang School, a private, special education school.
Baillie said she believes a good leader is someone who works daily to achieve ultimate success.
"I wasn't born a leader," she said. "Becoming a leader is a journey. Everything I was given, I learned a new lesson. Then I added it to my skill set."
Being flexible, making tough decisions, having vision and a strong set of mentors also make a good leader, she remarked.
"Perception is as important as reality," Baillie said. "Your future is controlled by other people. Good leaders have that understanding and they let people see them in that light. There is a big difference between being a manager and being a leader."
Bailey Sr. stressed four principles for being a successful leader. He said everyone should have mentors, set priorities for life, establish goals and create plans to meet those goals.
"If you fail to plan, you can plan to fail," Bailey Sr. said. "We started from scratch. Set goals step-by-step-by-step. We had to start somewhere. Leaders are always the people that are dreamers."
Tammy Maciocha, manager of Major Accounts for South Jersey Gas, said she liked the message Bailey Jr. gave the group.
She said she looks forward to following some of his advice and taking more risks when it comes to her leadership style. Maciocha said she hopes to use the ideas to "better me and others."
Bill Clark, Salem Community College's director of public relations and chamber Business Education Committee chairman, said he hopes the members took valuable lessons away from the speeches.
"All of us are leaders," he said. "We can learn a lot about leadership from each other.
"The speakers were so motivational and their words were heartfelt. I think everyone can take something away from this. We can all become better leaders having heard from our three speakers here today."
