Paul Astleford came to Jacksonville in January to fill the role of Visit Jacksonville's president and CEO, but he did not come with a plan.
Instead, Astleford largely spent his first three months learning from government officials, business owners and civic leaders.
"It's not about me. I'm out there having them give me their perspective on where Jacksonville has been, where they see Jacksonville today and where they see Jacksonville tomorrow," he said.
Astleford said he has lived "all over" and spent the past 13 years as president and CEO of Experience Columbus, the organization that markets and promotes the Ohio city. His career also includes positions that took him to Chicago and Florida.
Now as head of the 27-employee destination-marketing organization for Greater Jacksonville. Astleford said he will use his outside perspective and what he's learned to help build a collaborative vision for the city to promote to the world.
He said he has learned the community has been run like a corporation for some time, which can serve individual purposes but not the greater community.
"As a corporation, everyone jumps to strategy first. Strategy without vision is almost aimless," he said.
He said he is a fan of Jacksonville Community Council Inc.'s JAX2025 visioning process to establish priorities for what the community wants to become.
Promoting a community vision with members who have ownership promotes a brand, which can then be promoted across the world.
"Our mission is to create an experience in Jacksonville and sell, market and promote that experience to the world. Our job is to help make Jacksonville feel like one of the most inviting, pride-filled energetic communities anywhere on the planet," he said.
"At the same time, (we have to) be selling, marketing and promoting that to the visitor industry of the world … our vision is to be a major, if not the major driving economic development engine in the community," he said.
He said when the community speaks about itself in a common way through the different organizations, the community starts to have an image "in a very short time."
"If it is individuals telling the community what the vision for tomorrow is, it will be dead on arrival," he said.
Astleford did not indicate a timeline for the Jacksonville community to align for a brand message, but said in Columbus it took two years.
In its next budget, Visit Jacksonville will allocate funds for an extensive study to show the "power of the visitor industry to Jacksonville" to create a baseline of facts and show a return on investment.
"It could be fun to be a part of Jacksonville right at this time in its history. It would be fulfilling to be even a small part of this transformation," he said.
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