The Doug Noll Show

Ever wonder where bigotry, stereotyping, and prejudice come from? Children are not born racist or sexist or as religious zealots; they are taught how to be that way. Usually, the teaching is indirect and by way of example from adults. If we want children to grow with tolerance, understanding, and acceptance of diversity among us, we have to be active teachers. My guest is doing just that. Matt Faulkner is a talented and clever picture book maker for children. His children’s book, "A Taste for Colored Water", arose out his lifelong exploraton of race and societal intolerance.

A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Matt has written and illustrated a number of children's books. His work has won wide praise for its humor, exuberance and sensitivity. In addition, he is a contributing illustrator to such national periodicals as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes. Matt currently lives in Northern California on San Francisco Bay with his son Gabe and their two cats Rosie and Leo. He teaches illustration at the Art Academy University in San Francisco.

In this segment, we talk about how Matt got into writing and illustrating children’s books. That leads to a conversation about the importance of teaching children about art in school.

Matt gives us a synopsis of his new children’s book, "A Taste of Colored Water". We learn that two 6 year olds, Jelly and Lulu, hear of a colored water fountain from their friend Abbey. They pester Uncle Jack for a ride into town. While Uncle Jack is buying a part for his tractor, Lulu and Jelly find the colored water fountain, which is next to the courthouse. Of course, the water fountain has a sign over it saying “Colored” and we see that Lulu and Jelly are living in the segregated south in the Civil Rights era. The children are confronted by a police officer with a vicious dog, told to stay away from the water fountain, and run back to Uncle Jack’s truck. What is not in the text is told Matt’s illustrations. During all of this, we see a non-violent civil rights protest and parade being broken up with fire hoses squirting water and knocking the protesters down.

Matt and I talk a bit about the stereotyping of the south. He tells us that he has been confronted about that stereotyping, but says that growing up Boston taught him that being a black African American was not a good thing.

We talk about the lessons that children can be taught from "A Taste of Colored Water". Matt describes some of the simple examples he gives to children that he reads to.

The Peacemaker’s Bookshelf looked at the book "Living Deeply: The Art and Science of Transofrmation in Everyday Life" by Marilyn Schlitz, Cassandra Vieten, and Tina Amorok

Matt’s son Gabe is 16 years old and is a minority student himself, a white kid in black school. Matt and I talk about how to help Gabe negotiate the shoals of bigotry. Matt tells us that he helps Gabe understand that the basis of bigotry and intolerance is fear. Once that is understood, handling racism becomes more manageable as the core issues of fear are accepted and acknowledged.

Leadership is a quality that many claim to have but unfortunately seems to be in short supply. How many of us can say that our bosses inspire us, support us, help us improve, and motivate us to do our very best? And honestly, how many of us really work at leadership ourselves, at home, at work, or in the community? Leadership is important and its particularly important for solving problems and effectively working out disputes and conflicts in the office. We are going to look at leadership through the eyes of an expert.
Craig W. Ross is President of Pathways to Leadership Inc., a leadership development company in business for over 15 years. For almost a decade, Craig has partnered with CEOs and high-level executives around the world to increase productivity and bottom line results through the development of healthy work cultures. Craig brings high energy and a dynamic approach to executive coaching, keynotes and the transformational Pathways to Leadership® program he facilitates to companies worldwide including Owens-Illinois, Procter & Gamble, Gerber, Nestlé, Mazda Motor Company, CIBA Vision and many others.Craig has a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota and M.A. in Curriculum Instruction and Design from Colorado Christian University. The three attributes of great leadership are self-awareness/self-control, the ability to communicate with some charisma, and the ability to focus people’s minds on what is important.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

Focus-foward questions are one way to focus minds out of the past and into the future. He ability to ask well-phrased and well-timed questions is a leadership skill that pays huge dividends. We will always focus on a good question and leaders learn to use our innate curiosity through good questions.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

Jerks in the office are a huge problem. Dysfunctional office behaviors cost billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, not to mention lawsuits and claims. The real secret to dealing with the elephant in the office is to not fix people. Instead, develop some self-awareness. Am I focused on that jerk? If so, why? Can I put my focus in a more productive place? Teaching people how to do that is a critical part of leadership. Trying to fix people or setting down behavioral rules are simply not effective. Thus, leaders have to be thinking about working with the minds in the office to deal with the elephants.
The Peacemaker’s Bookshelf looked at the book Mediating Dangerously by Kenneth Cloke.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

A caller asked if the elephants ever go away. Doug felt that the elephants never go away and always provide us with lessons to learn about being aware, conscious, and even spiritual. Craig agreed and felt that elephants come in different shapes and sizes. As we learn to deal with the elephants through our own increasing awareness, they become less of a problem.
http://www.pathwaystoleadership.com/

Marilyn and I talk about conflicts. We observe that conflicts are often necessary to point out things that need to change. Conflict is also an opportunity for spiritual growth. Cat calls in from North Carolina and adds her sense that conflict is necessary and how we approach conflict determines whether it is healthy or destructive. We begin to talk about what listening is really about. Marilyn points out that because so many of us live in fear, listening is very difficult.
http://www.reenchantplanetearth.com

Marilyn talks about listening with your whole body. By this, she means that we have to listen to ourselves as well as listen to what the other person is saying. Listening to ourselves means being aware of every emotion and feeling as it passes through us. At the same time, we are aware of the emotions flowing through the other person. This is a bit challenging in the beginning, but, as Doug points out, becomes like riding a bicycle with practice.
http://www.reenchantplanetearth.com

Not everyone is aware of what they are feeling in the moment. One of the basic tools of peacemaking is to create a safe, sacred space where feelings can be experienced without fear. Lynn calls in from Long Island and points out that this can allow people to speak honestly and authentically. Marilyn gives the example of a conversation with the principal of her step-son’s school. Marilyn observed that the principal was listening to her own fear rather than listening to her step-son. Once the principal understood the concept of listening, the conversation completely changed. Doug asks Marilyn about her energy model. Marilyn describes the work of Stewart Gellis and the being energy, the doing energy, and the dreaming energy. Being energy is about connection and relationship. Doing energy is about action, critical thinking, and analysis. Dreaming energy is about creativity. We tend to live in one energy to the exclusion of others, which leads to imbalances in life. When we are living in the three energies simultaneously, we are in balance with the Universe. When one or more of the energies is missing, conflict arises. One model of peacemaking suggests that peace comes from re-balancing and awakening the missing energies.
http://www.reenchantplanetearth.com

Marilyn describes her philosophy behind the Re-Enchant Planet Earth project. Re-Enchanters are global citizens interested in sustainability. One purpose of reenchantplanetearth.com is to connect people. Another purpose is to allow a space to talk about fear. By talking about what our fears are, we lessen the power fear has over us.
http://www.reenchantplanetearth.com

Kimmie Weeks has worked to alleviate poverty and human suffering in Africa and around the world since he was fourteen. At the age of nine he came face to face with civil war, human suffering, and death. At age eleven, he committed himself to creating a better world for children. Ever since, his life has been a journey toward fulfilling this commitment. Over the years, Weeks has formed partnerships and led organizations that have provided education to thousands of students in West Africa, lobbied the disarmament of child soldiers, and provided health care and recreation supplies to children. At 26 years old, Kimmie is a graduate of Amherst College and is now completing his Masters Degree. He will be entering his Ph.D. program this fall. Join us for an uplifting, powerful conversation about what one person can do to change our world.
http://www.youthactioninternational.org

Kimmie was targeted for assassination by the Charles Taylor regime in Liberia for his outspoken leadership against Taylor’s enslavement of children to fill his mercenary army. Kimmie was 16 years old at the time. Kimmie and I also talk about his organization to help children in Africa.
http://www.youthactioninternational.org

My guest is Dan Millstein, author of the book The One Minute Miracle. Dan spent 18 years in prisons around the world teaching inmates how to be self-aware, non-reactive teachers of peace. His book explains a simple and elegant guided meditation composed of twelve affirmations and twelve yoga hand positions, called mudras. As each affirmation is spoken, the hands change to a different position. This simple ceremony changed prisoners and prison populations, sometimes dramatically. Today, Dan is putting out the idea of creating 108 million Teachers of Peace. Again, by affirmation, he wonders what would happen if 108 million people declared themselves each to be a Teacher Peace. More information about Dan and his work can be found at www.visionsforprisons.com and www.teacherofpeace.com . Join us for a interesting conversation about Dan’s work.
http://www.teacherofpeace.com

Dan Millstein, Author of "The One Minute Miracle"
http://www.teacherofpeace.com

Dan Millstein, Author of "The One Minute Miracle"
http://www.teacherofpeace.com

Dan Millstein, Author of "The One Minute Miracle"
http://www.teacherofpeace.com