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In this episode, we talk with a returning guest to the podcast, Dr. Samuel Nix. Our conversation emphasizes the necessity for educators to embrace change and develop adaptive leadership skills in response to our rapidly changing educational contexts. Dr. Nix highlights the importance of setting aside intentional time to think and analyze as an educator to ensure your activities are achieving their intended impacts.
Dr. Nix is an educator with over 20 years of experience as a teacher and principal, and is the author of Six Steps to a Strong School Culture: A Leadership Cycle for Educational Success. The Big Dream Dr. Nix firmly believes that we already have everything we need to make the difference that needs to be made—and it matters. Education matters. So, educators need to keep learning and growing so that we can support students' learning and growth. Within this context. Dr. Nix’s big dream for education is that we keep up the pace of change. He believes we are at the precipice of amazing things, but we need to prepare students to excel and achieve in the face of change, particularly when it comes to technology. His big dream is to prepare students not just for current trends, but for a future where critical thinking and analysis are paramount. Mindset Shifts Required To achieve this vision—preparing students to analyze, grow, and thrive in change—a few mindset shifts are helpful. Dr. Nix identifies ego as the primary barrier to growth and development among adults. Ego is holding onto your agenda, comfort, and perspective instead of learning from others. So, a necessary mindset shift for all educators is to take the position of a humble and adaptive learner. Dr. Nix also believes students can embrace a mindset shift towards more appreciation for learning, even when it’s a struggle. Action Steps Educators who want to embrace adaptive learning in their classrooms can use these six steps for leadership development, as outlined in Dr. Nix’s book, Six Steps to a Strong School Culture.
These six steps are part of the leadership cycle; they’re how leaders (educators) can embrace adaptive learning in their classrooms. In our discussion, Dr. Nix elaborated on a few key action steps educators can take:
Challenges? One of the primary challenges educators face is overcoming ego and complacency—the internal dialogue of “I already know this,” or “It’s going to take too much time.” But if educators can overcome this reluctance to change and be willing to adapt to new methods, we can grow and develop, ultimately helping students do the same. One Step to Get Started To begin embracing adaptive leadership and fostering growth in education, Dr. Nix suggests starting with clarifying your mission. This involves ensuring that your communication is understood as intended by your audience, whether it be staff or students, and providing clear, actionable feedback that promotes understanding and growth. Stay Connected You can find out more about Dr. Samuel Nix and his work on his website and X (Twitter) at @_SamuelNix. To help you implement today’s takeaways, Dr. Nix is sharing a link to their book, Six Steps to A Strong School Culture. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 217 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript below. Quotes:
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Transcript
00:02 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Dr Sam Nix, welcome to the Time for Teachership podcast again. 00:07 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Lindsay, thank you so much. It's always a pleasure to connect with you, to connect with your audience. I just am honored. 00:12 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Thank you so important for how we lead in educational spaces, so excited to dig into that. Is there anything you want listeners or people reading the transcript? I want to make sure I'm not using ableist language. You know anyone to know, as we kind of jump in today before we get into like the meaty questions. 00:39 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) If I had to articulate what I would want someone to know before we jump into everything, it's this we have everything that we need to make the difference that needs to be made, and it matters. The work of educating children matters. The work of understanding that this is important matters. The work of understanding that our children, where they are, what they have, who they're going to be tomorrow, matters. So our ability to get it right, our ability to learn, to grow, to develop in order to best meet the needs of all students matters. So, whether it's my book, whether it's someone else's book, whether it's whatever it is, as educators we have to continue to grow and to develop, to learn how to support our students as they continue to learn and grow, because it matters and that's all I want people to know is that it matters. So our ability to continue to just get better matters. 01:48 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) That resonates so much and I know, before we hit record, we were talking about like our parenting journeys as well, and I have felt that as well as an individual, like in a family sense, too right. It's like, oh, I should read this book or I should learn this thing, but I'll do it later. I don't have time for that right now. It's like, no, it totally matters. Like to our children's development. And it also is is the case for like an educational setting. 02:10 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Yes, absolutely. 02:11 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Oh my gosh, I love that framing. Okay, so you've answered this next question before on the podcast maybe. Like you know, we always change and evolve and grow to your point, and so I'm wondering what your, your thoughts are today. You could also answer this in the context of your new book, but in line with Freedom Dreaming Dr Bettina Love describing it as dreams grounded in the critique of injustice. What is your current big dream for education? 02:33 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Well, my current big dream for education is that we keep up with the pace of change. I think and I don't know, but I think we are at a precipice of absolute amazing things, with the integration of artificial intelligence into every aspect of everything that we're doing, to so many of our teachers and teaching staff coming into the profession not as prepared as in the past. The changing demographic of our technology is just things. So you know, my goal, my hope, my dream is that we keep up with the pace of change, not that we're trending with change, but we're preparing students for thinking, analyzing, because that's a skill that I think we're losing, and so my dream is that we continue to prepare students for what's coming in a way that they will excel and achieve tomorrow. 03:46 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) That's so good on many, many levels. So one part of my brain is going to the fact that you always integrate, which is why I just so appreciate your work, this idea of adaptive leadership and like that change is just inevitable and we have to kind of like prepare thoughtfully for that. And then, on a student level, thinking about what students skills I have always valued most because we bring our own, like teacher biases and preferences is the skill of analysis, and it is often the skill that we struggle the most with, and so I just think the merging of those points that you're making and that you make in the book are just so profound and relevant to exactly what's happening. 04:21 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Wow, yes. 04:22 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Yeah, and so I'm curious. The next question really I think I want to ask is about the mindset shifts that are required for this type of leadership, for this preparation of students to analyze. Certainly, one of my takeaways is always that adaptive lens from what you bring in this book, and so I'm curious to know what your thoughts are around like. Is there something that is kind of like this aha moment where you have seen teachers or leaders, or even from the student lens kind of unlock, this new way of thinking or being that has really enabled that growth and that achievement of, like, better analysis or leading through change, or analysis or leading through change? 05:03 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Well, let me start with the adults, and this may not be popular, okay, but the number one, I believe, inhibitor of adult growth and adult development is ego. Ego in terms of I know, ego in terms of I'm good, ego in terms of my agenda, my comfort, ego in terms of how dare someone tell me what and how to do what I know works, how to do it better? And so, for me, the mindset shift that has to occur is one of an humble and adaptive approach to learning and growth, and I think that's the fundamental aspect of adaptive leadership. It's positioning yourself to understand you don't know it all and positioning ourselves to understand that there's a lot to learn and we can learn it from anyone, whether that's from students or from a new teacher coming in, or from new courses or from new ways of thinking, and not that the new is always better, but the new positions you to adapt and when adapting, sometimes you can relate better. Your perspective shifts and it allows you to connect with whatever it is that you're trying to impact in a different way. 06:30 So, with the adults, to me the thing that has to shift the mindset, it's dropping the ego, and that is one of the most difficult things for any person to do, let alone a leader do, let alone a leader. And for students. You know, I find that there is so much of a and I really hate to say this, but I find that there is so much of a lack of appreciation for learning and I hate to say it because we are so instant, everything is getting so quick and so much so that we don't have to engage in the critical thought and analysis that you just talked about that it takes a very patient mind, it takes a very intentional mind, it takes a very determined mind and intentional mind to struggle, and learning is about struggle. And so if we're not willing to struggle, if we're not willing to be uncomfortable, if we're not willing to go through the grind of the process, then it's going to be very difficult to develop the mindset that's necessary to be successful tomorrow or in the future. 07:50 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Wow, okay, yeah, I totally agree and I. What this is making me think about is I have a teacher who have been coaching or just like learning from really, and he's trying to increase student-led discussion. He's like you know what. 08:05 I find it really interesting that in like the honors class, they have like a tracked system there the honors students are less successful because there's more fear of failure they are less kind of resilient in that struggle for learning that you're describing, whereas the students who have like been familiar with, with, like, like academic struggle at least, they're like, yeah, I'm willing to try that thing, like I'm willing to do that, I'm willing to grow and like see what happens when I say this or I ask a question in this way, and they're like really leaning into it. And so I I am really curious lately about that idea of the learning struggle and how do we kind of create this context for all people, for leaders, to your point, and adults in the space, as well as the students? That is one where we can embrace the struggle and be like this is a gift, right, that's the learning. 08:54 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Yeah, but if you look at how we structure the system though, lindsay, so how do we? You know, in the book I talk about this In order for learning to be something that's celebrated. It can't be punitive. And what do we do in education, right? I mean, the moment that you fail, there's a punitive measure there. Or even as an adult, the moment that you fail, there's a punitive measure, there's a write-up waiting for you, there's a critical conversation waiting for you. There's because there's so many metrics of success that we are under sometimes the burden to meet. So feedback is extremely important, but feedback that helps people grow. You know if, when we take a test, lindsay, I work with school districts all over like all over right, and I work with schools and leaders all over them critical, meaningful feedback for the student to learn from and practice again for improvement. Usually there's a minus five. Here's your score. Boom, that's feedback. 10:17 Or in an adult situation, the moment somebody fails at something they've attempted to do, oftentimes there's so little grace in an organization, so little flexibility and support for that failure, which then causes people to not want to fail more. So, to your point, when we can make failure a part of the process that people can learn from, grow, from, try again to do better with. Then we start to develop a system in an organization where critical thinking, analysis, risk-taking just becomes a part of what we do. That's a part of the mindset that has to shift, that's a part of the organizational structure that has to shift, because without that, you know, we're creating a system of fear, absolutely Spot on. 11:19 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Yeah, and it's making me think about your in chapter three. 11:21 You have like this coaching feedback, like quadrants maybe yeah, and so there was like technical and adaptive, which totally resonates. And then there's teaching learning, which was a really interesting mindset shift for me as I was reading, because I usually have the first two, didn't have the other two, and it was really. It unlocked something for me and like, oh, this is feedback for learning versus teaching, or I don't know if you want to like talk through for folks who haven't read the book yet, like what that is. I think that'd be helpful. 11:48 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Absolutely so. I did an analysis of multiple school districts school districts ranging from large districts ranging from over 60,000 students, to school districts that were smaller in size, under 10,000 students. I looked at multiple administrators, multiple teacher feedback, multiple student achievement, and main thing that I was interested in is the walkthroughs from the administrators when they're in the classrooms and the feedback that they're providing to teachers and how they're coaching teachers to get better. And so I mean hundreds and hundreds and hundreds right of analysis of how we're coaching teachers after a classroom observation or things of that nature. And what we found was there were basically four quadrants of feedback that was provided, one quadrant being administrators were providing adaptive feedback, which adaptive are things that are challenging, not easy to identify, they're more emotional, they're not as easy to fix right. Technical being simple, easy things to identify, quick fixes. Technical being simple, easy things to identify quick fixes. And then, of course, there's the teaching aspect. So there is a feedback quadrant that focuses on technical teaching, meaning I'm in there and I'm talking about things that are easy to identify, easy to fix, and I'm focused on the teacher right. 80% of the 85% of the feedback was technical teaching. So what that means is we are coaching, developing mindsets that focus on the technical aspect of school and teacher activity and less on the adaptive aspects of school and student outcomes. 13:48 And so what we do in the book is really go through and unpack the difference between these types of feedback and how to be more focused on adaptive learning so that we can start to develop this type of mindset, so that teachers understand what it means to support adaptive and what it means to focus on student learning. And so we unpack that in the book. We unpack ways to do that, strategies to do that and the benefits of that, and the hilarious part about this is in the study. And the hilarious part about this is in the study. Those administrators that focused more on adaptive learning, the teachers that they worked with and the students that they impacted had much greater scores. And it's not I mean, it's not rocket science, right? I mean even the teacher evaluation systems and all of the research shows us here. Let me ask you a question. So the question is let's take students learning math. Why don't kids want to learn math? 14:56 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Divorced from their reality, don't see the authentic applications of it. Feels like there's often a right or wrong and they're on the side of wrong, so they're maybe afraid to get it wrong. 15:07 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) All of those are adaptive. That has nothing to do with lesson yeah, that has nothing to do with lesson plans. That has nothing to do with the structure of the board configuration. It has nothing to do with transition time, although those things are important. Kids don't learn, want to learn math or reading, whatever the case may be. Because why is it relevant to me? Why I'm not inspired to learn it? I'm not motivated to learn it, right, like? Why, like, this doesn't make me feel I would rather play video games, right, why? 15:36 And so the adaptive piece of how do we motivate kids to learn? How do we inspire them to want to learn? How do we make this so relevant to them and how do I connect with them in such a way that they can't wait to get to math class? Those are all adaptive things, but we're not coaching on that, we're not spending time developing that type of mindset. Why? Because we're so busy with the technical. We're so busy thinking that as long as my lesson plans are good, as long as my board configuration is good, as long as my classroom management is good, kids are going to learn and they're going to be fine. And that's not always the case. And so we have to help and walk people through. Number one what does the research say? And number two, what are the strategies to get there? And that's what the book Six Steps to a Strong School Culture helps to be able to do. 16:22 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Yes, oh my gosh, this is great, and actually I think I'm realizing I probably jumped too far in immediately. Do you want to overview for us what those six steps are, because I'm realizing that not everyone has read the book at the time of listening to this. So do you want to give us kind of that overview and then we can dive into the next thing I want to ask. 16:38 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Yeah, there's no problem. So part of what we talk about in the book and unpacked is the leadership cycle, and that is basically just a framework for leaders to think through as they are going through any type of process or any type of organizational outcome that they're looking for, and it's based in research from pilots, right, and it's based on the ADM factor, and the ADM is audit, audit, audit. How do you audit, audit? Help me, lindsay, what the ADM stands for? Audinarical, what is it? What is it when you, when you fly? 17:12 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Aviation, aviation. I'm not sure. 17:17 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Thank you, I'll get it in a second Right, but it's AD. The cut all that out. So that's not in the bunk, but it's the ADM process, autonomical, it'll come to me. Aeronautical, thank you. Yes, aeronautical, you're a genius, thank you. 17:32 Aeronautical decision making this is an actual study, right. And so what they found was they can drastically reduce the deaths, the wrecks, the incidents of pilots by preparing how pilots think and prepare before a flight. But wait a minute, what about weather? What about lightning? You can't control lightning. You can't control wind. You can't control turbulence. You can't control birds, yes, but what you can control is how a pilot prepares for, thinks through, analyzes and executes when those situations occur. So that's what the leadership cycle is based on and proven results. 18:17 But the six steps are number one, clarifying the mission. Number two, planning strategically and making decisions. Number three, empowering yourself and empowering others. Number four, measuring and feedback. Number five, how to and when to make adjustments and what it looks like to make improvement. And then number six, accountability and rewarding. And so those six steps we unpack, we teach leaders how to thoroughly move through each piece of that cycle so that by the end of whatever it is that they're trying to accomplish. Whatever they're trying to embed or install, or whatever the outcome is, there is such a higher degree of success than not, and so those are the six steps to the leadership cycle, and really what the foundation of the book is about. 19:12 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Thank you for running through that, and I think that's so interesting that it comes from the aeronautical space. 19:20 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Thank you for the word. Yes. 19:22 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Because I think that that is so interesting. This is a bit of a tangent. We were talking about parenting earlier, but Dr Becky Kennedy talks about like being a sturdy pilot when you're in parenting mode. Like no one wants to hear the like I'm too overwhelmed. Like I, you know, sit down, oh my gosh, sit down in the car, or else we're gonna right. That's like, and no one wants to hear. Like the. What do you think we should do? Like I'm not really sure. Like, I'm not really sure, like, and so I love that. 19:49 Actually, I think there's some clear, clear things in here too, because, to clear ties to that, because I think there is like, I have a plan as a leader, I do have a plan, and the plan involves so much of your feedback that I am going to ask and I am going to learn, but I still have a sense of like the path, like I have these six steps and I am sturdy in my kind of piloting and I do love that there's like so many pilot references in here. 20:15 It makes total sense to me, one of the things that really stuck out to me. 20:20 I love the idea of like we dove into this a little bit already, but like the kind of adaptive underpinnings of some of the things that are maybe ways that we've been doing the things but not really deeply doing the things that are adaptive, that need shifting, and I think some of these pieces that, as I was reading through those steps, feel more like I could see a leader taking that and being like okay, yep, I got this and then other pieces of being like this is so different to me I have not entertained the real adaptive stuff that this feels like a sticking point where, if I'm reading the book by myself, I might be like okay, this is a little, this is a little much. 20:56 I'm curious if you can talk us through a little bit of like your root cause process, which I found fascinating, like when you were assigning weights and then thinking through. I love root cause and I talk about it a lot, but I had never seen anyone do it the way that you did it. So I wonder if that's like a part that we could highlight from the book, if you're okay with it. 21:16 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) I'm fine with that, absolutely, lindsay. If I were to ask you, if I were to say how do you know that you're making an impact in any area? If I were to say, how do you know you're making impact as a mother? How do you know that you're making an impact in any area? If I were to say how do you know you're making impact as a mother? How do you know that you're making an impact as a teacher? How do you know that you're making impact at your church? Or like how do you measure impact in any area? What do you use? 21:45 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Wow, that's a huge, really big question. Okay, I think, and I don't have the answer, but I think what I would do is I would first identify, like, what's the goal? Like, what is, what is the type of impact I want to have. So, like, for my kid, I might be like, okay, I really want my kid to have good questioning skills, I want my kid to be curious. How many questions does my kid ask in a day? Or something like that, right. And then I would, paired with that kind of more objective measure, maybe I would ask for feedback, like am I a good mom, am I a good teacher? Right, and I would just get that qualitative feedback from whoever I'm working with. 22:23 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) So what I hear you saying is there's a certain time that you're going to be focused on activity, but there's also a certain time that you're going to be focused on measurement of impact. And so often what we do, lindsay and I just find this so prevalent is we focus more on activity than on impact, and so we will do a thing and not have any qualitative or quantitative data to determine whether or not what we're doing is having the intended impact. So you asked me about the root cause analysis. There is a process that I teach and help people go through, because it's not just about, well, what do I think the cause is? Well, what do I think the cause is. There is a very strategic way to determine a root cause analysis that you can attach a metric to and a weight to, to see which one of these is having the greatest impact on what I'm experiencing. And so that piece and just learning how to do that, just understanding the strategic nature of how to unpack that, is so critical, because what people tend to do is, when we start talking root cause analysis, they'll start thinking, well, this is what caused that and this is what caused that, and actually that's not what caused that at all, right? Actually, they're all on something that they have no control of, right? So, as we're processing through root cause analysis, we have to stay in the realm of what A do I have control over that has contributed to the outcome, and B then people have to learn how to stay in that vein, to determine whether or not can just follow those examples, outline the root cause, assign the weights and be able to more strategically and intentionally determine okay. This is why this is not happening, this is why that's not occurring, and so I very much, I very much understand the challenge of strategically thinking that way. But the reality is we're not going to grow and we're not going to get better if we're not willing to think, and I don't know any other way to say it. 25:05 Thinking takes time. We don't have time. Thinking takes patience. We oftentimes run out of patience. But if I were to ask the leaders all the time show me on your calendar where you have scheduled time to think. Oh, they've scheduled everything. Show me where you have scheduled time to think, and very often it's not there. We wake up. Things are grabbing our time and attention. We move, we get in the car. Things are grabbing our attention Every time, every minute of the day, something's grabbing our attention or we're giving it attention, or we're spending a lot of time on the electronic income reducer, which I call the television. Right, we not take everything's doing the thinking for us. So when we start talking about root cause analysis, we oftentimes try to focus on the behavior of a thing instead of the cause of a thing, and we treat the behavior, which doesn't change the outcome. 26:07 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) I feel like that should be the title of the episode schedule time. To think it's just like, wow, that's a huge aha moment. For me, that's whoa. Okay, that's so good. Thank you for that. That's brilliant and, and I think so that's kind of what I identified as leaders I've worked with. That might be like the biggest challenge for them, you know, in in doing these six steps. I'm curious to know what you have experienced with leaders. What is the biggest challenge for them as they kind of go through this process or as they just in general, I guess, as leaders that you think this book could address, or that maybe you've seen them like go through this challenge and do this thing and this is the aha that unlocks some progress. I don't know if there is something that comes to mind for you. 26:50 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) You know the purpose of this book, lindsay. Your audience is an audience that wants to grow. They want to get better. The purpose of this book is to help give them the strategies to do that. Where I find that people struggle the most is going back to what we said ego. I know I'm not going to try this because it's going to take too much time. I'm not going to adjust because what I'm doing is working and we often fail to consider it may work today, it may not work tomorrow. It may work with the students who and I say this and I've said this in the book Lindsay we do a very good job of teaching the kids who and I say this and I've said this in the book Lindsay we do a very good job of teaching the kids who need us the least. But there are children who require our thought, our creativity, the expansion of our ability to lead and to teach. The biggest challenge that I find is people assuming that where they are and who they are is enough. 27:56 That is not me saying that someone's not enough. What that is me saying is that sometimes it requires we are required to grow. We are alive, we grow, we develop, and we should consistently be growing and develop. So let's take the first step in the leadership cycle, which is clarify the mission. When I talk to leaders all the time they'll say things like, oh, I clarified. And I'll say how do you know? Well, I told them. I talked to leaders. All the time they'll say things like, oh, I clarified. And I'll say how do you know? Well, I told them. I talked to them, I emailed them, I wrote them. How do you know that what you intended to say is what they understood? Just that question. How do you know that what you intended for them to understand is what they understood? And do you know how oftentimes leaders will say well, I told them, I gave them an agenda, I emailed them, I told them five times? 28:47 That is not ensuring that they are clear. Or how often are we providing feedback to people on their progress? Not just to mention what feedback are we getting on our leadership on the thing. How often are we providing feedback to people on the thing that we're wanting them to do, to improve, to implement things of that nature. And then the call, even if leaders do all of that. Where I find the biggest challenge for leaders that I work with, for CEOs that I work with, for organizations that I work with, it's in the measurement, it's in measuring the progress. 29:33 It's in identifying a metric A, communicating the metric B and having a regimented time that they are monitoring and measuring, which are two different things. That's outlined in the book. That is a challenge, because we get so busy, we get so busy we forget. We assume all the things right, but there's very few things in life, if any, that ever improves without feedback and without measuring it. 30:11 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) So well said, I totally agree. And you know it makes me think of I'm reading this other book I was reading this morning about like a teacher feedback to students and it was like just give less assessments, right, like if you don't have time, it's not that you stop measuring and giving feedback, you just do less and make sure it's focused and important. 30:33 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) And I'm like that was true, but do you see even that comment right there? What you're asking people to do is change the way they think about what they do. Well, you can't give less assessments. If I give less assessments then I don't know what the kids know, right? So the priority is on the activity, not the impact. The priority is on the teaching, not the learning. 30:51 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Right, right, yes, oh my gosh. Yes, that's it. It's the teaching versus the learning. Thank you, I will not forget that. That's so good, and I think so. There's there's so much right. There's so much that leaders can, can do. There's there's so much depth and also really practical resources, like even to your point of how do you know that the staff or the other people in the space are actually like understanding and interpreting your message the way that you intended it, like I love the concrete things that you offer in the book to be like here's how you know, here's, here's the indicators, right? I'm curious to know, like if someone's ordering the book, it's in the mail, it's on the way they stop listening to this episode and they're like I want to kind of start this today, like I want to get going. What's kind of the first thing they can do when they end the episode, and they want to just start the momentum towards doing all the things we talked about today. 31:41 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Well, first is understand. Nothing that we're talking about is difficult. We're not talking about hard. We're not talking about a course in astrophysics, right, slowing down, adjusting our mindset to doing things that help people get better. We're talking about being intentional, about focusing on what it takes for people to learn. 32:18 There's a lot of psychology in the book Sociology, right, sociology right because there's an adaptive approach to how people work, to how people operate, and to understand that there is such a thing as a strategy to help you improve. And what the book is going to do is help you to explore those strategies so that you can be so much more impactful Not that you're not impactful, but that you could be so much more impactful. I don't know. I've never heard of a world-class athlete that didn't have a coach. I've never seen a world-class athlete whether it's Olympics, whether it's anything that the coach is not constantly trying to sharpen their saw. 33:19 So people who order books like this, people who listen to your podcast, these are the people that have a greater degree of impact because they're constantly sharpening their saw. And it's not that this is the answer, it's that anyone that orders this book prepares for it to come. What should they be doing? They should be spending time understanding that they are about to sharpen their saw block out time to think about what they're reading, process through it, and then go execute and watch, as what they're working on, as who they're working with, excels. 34:07 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) That's so good. Thank you for that. I think one of the last two things that are just fun to ask is one what are something that you have been learning lately? This could totally relate to what we talked about or be something totally different, but we talked about lifelong learning and growth and all this stuff, so I'm curious to know what you're working on. 34:25 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) So what I'm working on right now is and it's a lot don't laugh at me, please don't laugh at me Right, but what I'm learning is YouTube, right, so I started a YouTube channel and it's there's a lot to that, right, and I'm learning about playlists and I'm learning about scheduling and I'm learning about, like, because I don't know, I just right, I'm trying to learn how to navigate through the space. So one of the things that I'm doing is I'm a reader, right, I love to read books. I read about three to four books a month, and for some people, that may be a lot, for some people that may be a lot, for some people that may be a little. But as a learner, and what I'm doing is I'm taking the top 50 leadership books and I'm equating them to education, and so what I'm trying to do is, in about 15 or 20 minutes or so, just all the books I'm reading. 35:19 How do the strategies in this book equate to education? Whether it's Marshall Goldsmith's book, what Got you here Won't Get you there, whether it is From Good to Great, whether it is Atomic Habits, whether it is Upstream, whether it is Chop Wood, carry water, whatever right, I'm taking the strategies from this book these books and then through the podcast. Okay. So how does this apply to teaching? How does this apply to leadership? How does this apply to leading a school? So I'm trying to learn right how to do those things. This is great. It's a wonderful opportunity for me. 35:59 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Whoa, that's so cool. Okay, I need to add that to my subscribe list. That is cool. And the last question is just where can folks learn more about you, connect with you online? We'll link to the stuff in the blog post too, but I just wanted to know if you want to share. 36:11 - Dr. Samuel Nix (Guest) Well, thank you so much. I'm on Twitter at Samuel Nix, I'm on Facebook and, of course, I have a website and my website is SNIX3consultingcom. That's SNIX3consultingcom, and I am on another thing I. Lindsay and your audience. Thank you so much for just what you do to inspire other educators, to help us learn and grow and continue to do the things that we need to do to help students learn. So just really kudos to you. Your channel your energy and just really appreciate you. 36:59 - Lindsay Lyons (Host) Thank you so much. That is so kind Right back at you, oh my gosh. Thank you for spending time with us, thank you for writing this amazing book. Keep cranking them out because they're very, very wonderful, and we will link to all of the stuff that you just listed for contacts in the blog post so people can find it, and we'll also drop a link to the book so people can get it right in there. So thank you so much.
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AuthorLindsay Lyons is an educational justice coach who helps schools and districts co-create feminist, antiracist civics-based curricula, discussion opportunities, and equitable policies that challenge, affirm, and inspire all students. A former NYC public school teacher, she holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Lindsay believes all students deserve literacy, criticality, and leadership skills. Archives
November 2025
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