by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Since graduating Florida State in 1990, 37-year-old Scott Teagle has traveled the world, made million-dollar deals and helped orchestrate an 18-month campaign that took his well-financed, but politically unknown friend to Jacksonville’s highest executive office.
But the City’s new chief of staff said lessons learned from an ill-fated, five-month stint selling copiers could provide the model for Mayor-elect John Peyton’s City Hall.
Teagle was four years out of college when, in a search for sales experience, he took a job with Danka Business Systems. He said the job was “brutal”; a two sentence smear on a resume crammed with superlatives. But he still carries one of his sales training exercises with him.
“The guy asked me whether my copier did double-sided copying and my machine did not,” said Teagle. “I went through all the stuff my machine could do, it could do this and this and I could sell you a duplicator for so much.”
Teagle lost the sale. His instructor had asked because he didn’t want a double-sided copier, something Teagle never considered.
“The answer I should have given him was ‘No, and why are you asking?’ but I didn’t even consider what he was thinking, I was too busy worrying about my side of things and what I wanted to accomplish,” said Teagle. “That’s something that’s been reinforced during the campaign and the transition. We don’t approach people with the attitude, ‘This is how it’s going to be.’ Mayor-elect Peyton has taken every opportunity to learn what’s important to Jacksonville and used it to put together his vision of what’s best for Jacksonville.”
Teagle said Peyton won the Fire and Rescue Department’s endorsement by visiting repeatedly each of the City’s stations. He said Peyton is now the administration’s expert on the department’s operations.
In addition to promising the fire department to replace incumbent Ray Alfred and promote one of its own to chief, Peyton campaigned on promises to enhance early literacy and promote downtown redevelopment. Teagle said the Peyton administration’s first budget will likely steer more money toward those priorities.
Peyton has structured his staff like a corporate board in hopes that efficient business practices will streamline the City’s operation, providing more money for needed services and programs. Teagle, whose private sector jobs required him to organize sales teams, is a central component of the Peyton administration’s corporate structure.
He will offer the mayor-elect candid counsel, with frankness being a staple of their eight-year friendship. He said his experience managing sales teams would allow him to blend the talents of a diverse executive staff. Teagle said managing the chemistry of a group, which includes a minister, a lawyer, a television reporter and two consummate City insiders, would be his most important contribution.
Teagle acknowledged the Peyton team was following eight years of large footsteps. Mayor John Delaney is widely credited with making downtown viable again for business and residential. But Teagle said he’s confident that the next administration could “take things to a whole new level.
“Things are going well in the City. I want to be part of an administration that continues that progress. It’s a much better situation than coming in after a failed administration,” said Teagle.
After 12 years in private business, the glare of the public spotlight shines uncomfortably on Teagle. He’s most comfortable in the background, creating a structure that features strengths and minimizes weaknesses. He laughed uncomfortably and shifted in his chair when asked to talk about himself, eventually dismissing the query as “a Miss America question.”
His answers consistently center around the team. He said his sales teams were consistent top performers because individual talents were harnessed to pull for a collective team effort. In the Peyton administration, Teagle thinks he can contribute his talent to a significant objective.
“My biggest desire is to have a positive impact on Jacksonville,” said Teagle. “I’m really starting to realize what kind of impact this administration can have, being a part of that is something that appeals to me that I never anticipated.”