The Doug Noll Show

Sex, politics and religion—the three subjects you don’t raise at the office. Yet these topics and the values they represent define what it means to be human. So often, however, conflicts arise over sex, politics and religion, especially at the office. Is it possible to develop healthy attitudes towards sex, politics and religion at the office? I will be talking about these common experiences in this show. Why are these such hot topics? Does anyone really think that repressing sex, politics and religion works? These are about what makes us human and our basic values are formed from and around them. Why aren’t we allowed to bring our values to work? I talk about all of this and more.

The law establishes five protected classes of people from employment discrimination. Employers may not discriminate because of age, disability, gender, race and national origin, or religion. The law does not make being a jerk illegal, however. So there is a lot of room for unhealthy attitudes around sex, politics and religion to develop and destroy a company.

There are key leadership characteristics that support a healthy attitude towards sex, politics and religion at the office. These are being nonjudgmental, being noncritical, being nonreactive, valuing balance and seeking balance, and being selfless. Learning how to ask questions to make people reflective is another leadership characteristic I talk about.

You can learn to listen by following the listening checklist I outline for you. If you follow the checklist, you will model respectful, caring behaviors that you want people to have around you. Finally, help people talk about sex, politics and religion by finding the deeper meanings those topics have to people. If sexuality is about looking and feeling good, how does the workplace help or hinder each of us looking and feeling good? That alone can lead to healthier attitudes.

Immigration. It’s a hot issue in Congress and in politics as we wrestle with whether to open, close, leak or dike our borders from immigrants. Of course, the reason people risk life and limb to come here is for work and economic opportunity. Regardless of where you stand on the immigration issue, the fact is that a lot of people, especially Hispanic people, now live and work in this country. Because they bring different languages, food, customs, and culture with them, there is bound to be conflict. In this show, we will talk about these conflicts and what can be done about them to keep peace in our communities.

Many of the conflicts that arise in our communities stem from misunderstandings about very different cultural practices. In addition, sometimes we fail to realize that the new people in our community working at the low end jobs come from poverty and may be undereducated or illiterate even in their own countries. Is there any wonder they are confused and frustrated by the complexity of modern society.

Conflicts over jobs, school, resources, rules and regulations all occur every day in every community with immigrant populations. We talk about the need to reach out to these people rathter than ostracizing them. If we want to stop gang violence, for example, wse need to embrace the children, respect them and include them. Gangs form from kids feeling isolated and alienated. So our attitudes towards our new immigrant neighbors affect our lives and communities very directly.

The best defense is a good offense. No matter what happens on the political scene, stopping immigration leakage along our borders is economically and physically impossible. We can expect immigration to continue for many years. At the community level, regardless of how we feel about undocumented people, opening our hearts, extending ourselves to understand and respect them, and including them in our community is the only way to create lasting community peace and harmony.

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.

One major constraint on freedom is poverty. The response to poverty varies from country to country. Populism is a common response, as shown by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Populism is the free market’s greatest enemy. Eventually, Populism decays into and an East Germany, or a Cuba, and the slide is already happening in Venezuela. Free markets will pull us out eventually if we concentrate less on giving things away and more on elementary and high school education. China, Korea, and other Asian cultures are way ahead of us in preparing the young for a successful future. If you want the details of how we’re losing the competition from fifth grade on, read Alan Greenspan’s new book, or walk across the campus at Caltech and MIT.