“Yes, AND...” or ‘Yes, BUT...”

In both prosperous and challenging times, I believe that most Americans aspire to be a force for good.

Given a choice, most of us want to be an effective factor in amplifying the positive influence and productivity of family, company, charitable cause, and greater community. 

Luckily, we have a choice, and it is a choice that moves us away from a zero-sum game mentality to a force multiplier perspective.

The power of adopting the “yes, and” mindset was a topic in a pre-pandemic discussion relative to strengthening economic prosperity and building social trust while simultaneously pursuing unified solutions to address education’s major challenges.

Given the ongoing challenges facing our society, I think this is an appropriate time to reexamine the role our chosen mindset plays in our personal and professional lives and community interactions.

Research has shown that it is possible to change one’s mindset, if needed, and an abundance mindset, indicated by “yes, and,” is beneficial to student success, overall mental health and community harmony.

A purposeful abundance mindset expands a person’s capacity, positivity and creativity to leverage existing resources; to do more good deeds; to balance personal freedom with responsibility; to see challenges as learning opportunities; to engage in the spirit of compromise; and to take a non-critical and solutions-oriented approach to weighty problems.

What happens when “yes, but” is used? The “but” conjunction can indicate a scarcity mentality. Even when basic needs are met and sufficient resources exist, a scarcity mentality can result in being overly focused on a narrow mindset, which often leads to becoming guarded and less willing to participate in productive community problem-solving.

It becomes a zero-sum game: I win, you lose. The problem, though, is that in the end, we all lose.

It doesn’t take a big leap to see how opposing mindsets can lead to the idea that one side must win and the other side must lose, resulting in a breakdown in community discourse and halting the sharing of ideas that can carry a community forward even during a prolonged crisis.

It is possible to strengthen economic prosperity and build social trust while simultaneously pursuing unified solutions to address education’s major challenges.

If we make “yes, and” a practice, could one good deed beget another good deed that begets yet another good deed, and so on? Could this become a force multiplier that leverages our collective good thinking, expands our ability to solve problems, and restores unity, balance and harmony?

It is our prerogative and within our power to choose if and how we will multiply and amplify our community’s highest potential.

I choose “yes, and.” I hope you will join me.

Jennifer Vigne is president and CEO of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County. 

This week, a report crossed my desk from the Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center, one of the many nonprofit organizations that are part of our Season of Sharing network. Within its pages, I was introduced to Candis, a hardworking employee with Sarasota County Schools and mother of two young children – one seven years old, and the other eleven months. For the last year and a half, Candis took time off from work to care for her husband as he battled with cancer, before he tragically passed away in September. Having fallen behind in her mortgage, she reached out to the Sarasota County School Board for a month’s worth of rental assistance, to ensure her children would have a roof over their head as they said goodbye to their father.

I am able to share this emotional story for no other reason than Candis’ courage and generosity. By no means is it easy to take that first step in requesting help at one’s most trying time. And then to follow that courageous step by laying bare your most difficult moments to inspire others – sometimes even complete strangers – is the ultimate gift of generosity to sacrifice one’s greatest hardship knowing your story can help inspire others to help our neighbors in need. In Candis’ story as well as the many others touched by Season of Sharing in its more than 21 years, trust is an ever-present force that catalyzes and brings forth hope.

Without trust, Season of Sharing – a region-wide campaign to extend a helping hand to our neighbors living on the economic edge from Punta Gorda to Parrish – wouldn’t exist. Thankfully, a trusted and robust network of more than 50 human service agencies has developed over the years to distribute dollars quickly, thoughtfully, and without the proverbial “red tape,” so there is security and peace of mind when there is nowhere else to turn in an emergency.

Of the many things nearly two years of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, we saw the long-term effectiveness of this network affirmed, from those who give to those who navigate human services on behalf of those in crisis. In other parts of the country, communities scrambled to develop a network of agencies and raise general funds for the very instabilities – be it rent, mortgage, utilities, child care or transportation – that Season of Sharing has watched over for more than two decades. As we’ve seen amidst this crisis and will see beyond it, collaboration paired with trust is how we can all come together for the betterment of our community.

Beginning this week, we are once again reigniting this time-tested and trusted campaign to address the heightened needs still being experienced by too many of our neighbors in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties.

I can think of no better gift this holiday season than realizing that you can profoundly change someone’s life, no matter your means. To strengthen your generosity, longtime Season of Sharing partner The Patterson Foundation is continuing its support through a matching opportunity, contributing $100,000 for every $500,000 raised by the community through Jan. 31, 2022. With no cap on the number of contributions donors can activate, there is no better time to give what you can knowing that every dollar matters and stays local to help our most vulnerable.

Season of Sharing reminds us that by addressing daily instabilities, we gain the perspectives, connections, and resources necessary to meaningfully approach our greatest challenges. It’s within this trusted network of care for neighbors, by neighbors, that we can restore stability and unlock possibilities so everyone who calls this area home can thrive. We hope you’ll be a part of it.

Roxie Jerde is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. 

To make a gift or learn more about Season of Sharing, please visit www.cfsarasota.org/community-impact/community-care/season-of-sharing. Thank you for your generosity.

I live on Siesta Key and own a software company that develops predictive estimating tools. Our clients include IBM, Microsoft, the Department of Defense, the government of South Korea and many others.

After looking at the issues dealing with hotels and unmanaged growth of large buildings on Siesta Key, I developed a mathematical model of traffic patterns on Midnight Pass Road.

Assuming a time of 11am, during the summer low season the 1.1-mile stretch of road between Stickney Bridge and Siesta Key beach has an average of 14 automobiles that move toward the beach at a rate of about 26 miles per hour. They can go from the bridge to the beach in less than 5 minutes.

During the high winter season at 11am there are about 400 automobiles on the stretch of road between Stickney Bridge and Siesta Key and they move at an average speed of about 1.25 miles per hour; i.e. it takes almost one hour to drive the 1.1-mile distance from the bridge to the beach.

If three more large hotels are built on Siesta Key, the number of autos at 11am may increase to almost 500 on the same stretch of road and the speed will drop down to about 0.5 miles per hour; i.e. it may take two hours to go from the bridge to the beach.

It is obvious that tourists could drive 35 miles from Sarasota to St. Petersburg beach in less than one hour at the same time of day. If three large hotels are built on Siesta Key, it is probable that tourists will no longer visit Siesta Key in winter but go to St. Petersburg or Clearwater where road and traffic conditions are better.

The probable impact of building three large hotels on Siesta Key will be bankruptcy of some Siesta Key businesses, probably including the new hotels themselves.

Neither the planning commission nor the hotel developers have analyzed peak traffic and the harmful impact that increased traffic will have on Sarasota and Siesta Key. My full model covers both bridges in both directions and can be set for any month or time of day. 

Some possible solutions to the problems would be: 1) Expand parking on the mainland sides of both bridges and run shuttles to the beach; 2) Make the bridges toll bridges with fees for going to Siesta Key but not for leaving; 3) Build a third bridge between the two existing bridges; 4) Limit hotel sizes and occupancy rates; 5) Use computerized planning models for evaluating changes in zoning and traffic densities.

Capers Jones is vice president and chief technology officer of Namcook Analytics. 

Rendering couresy Sarasota County: Plannes Stickney Point hotel.