The Smart Thinking Podcast

In this episode Ted explores how differing perspectives—"one person’s heaven is another person’s hell"—create friction in teams and families. He uses a crowded Glacier National Park hike to introduce four behavioral profiles: naturalists, enthusiasts, wannabes, and hostages. Ted connects the hiking story to leadership and change management, explaining how to match approaches to people's skill and...

This is an engaging conversation between Ted and Jonathan Reynolds who met in Kansas City after Jonathan had keynoted at the 2026 EOS conference. Jonathan is an enthusiastic leader and a creative problem-solver who has nearly 20 years of experience in recruiting and talent strategy. He is the CEO of Titus Talent Strategies, and he has helped over 1500 organizations build better workforces and cult...

Are you coachable? Take a listen as we explore the behaviors of those who are and are not coachable. This episode identifies the four types of people in coaching and shares reflections and actions to make you more coachable and a better coach of others.  The Rookies Rookies are the fresh faces who walk in with wide eyes and open notebooks. They’re new to the organization, and they know it, which m...

Fall is a season of change for many of us smart thinkers and as a result we need to be prepared. How about a sequence of texts to help you be perseverant, learn from mistakes, be more creative when facing constraints, help teams collaborate through it all, be a better writer/communicator and then reflect on how you are doing and who you are! Well, below is a list of texts that Ted is recommending...

What if we could hear about the future? Well, you can on this episode as Ted discusses how Australian laws around cell phones and social media have positively impacted learning and student wellbeing. Australia is a great study of what “to do” in order to support the growth of young people. Principal Lars Anderson from Thornbury High School near Melbourne, Australia gives us insight into what the p...

Each of us is on an amazing journey each week. Regardless of age, every single one of us collects great moments in our day-to-day. Well, what if we took the time to support ourselves and others so that we could collect and reflect on the greatest moments of our day or support others to think about their day, their week, or their life. Well, now you can through this fun and engaging process that is...

Do you have a purpose statement? If not why not? No purpose - no point! What process do you use to ensure you are living your purpose and doing what you need to do in order to be the best you? This episode is a great reflection opportunity for you to help you create a statement to guide you and the episode ends with a call to action and as well as the research to help you lead others to their purp...

This summer Jared and Ted joined forces at the Smart Thinking Leadership retreat and presented to hundreds of educators. Jared was a smash hit and his research, strategies, and ideas were quickly taken back into educational systems to support learning and a movement away from "edutech" We've done our children and teachers a disservice and it's time to admit it, fix it, and move forward!  Take a li...

Too often those of us in education forget one simple idea about ourselves: we matter. Join Ted as he explores the ways in which we matter and he reminds us how impactful we actually all are and how to put up guardrails to ensure we are engaged for ourselves and others. The episode ends with advice he gathered from over 40 educational professionals to help us all remember our IMPACT! 

What principle guides you when you lead others? From today forward it will be the RIDE principle. A keen recognition of your influence with others. Listen as Ted take's the lessons from horseback riding and applies it to how we should manage our classrooms, staff rooms, and board rooms. Because humans and horses literally share a heartbeat when together and so do we when we are leading groups. How...

Hey Hey! Ted has written another book and on this episode he describes why listening to a nudge helped him complete his first full leadership book. A book filled with practical and applicable ways to approach life. Go To Your Storm is an inspirational, personal growth, and leadership development book written by veteran educator and coach Ted Neitzke. Dedicated to equipping young people, new leader...

Why do so many people struggle on teams and working together? Well, there is no simple answer -- but there is a process. Join Ted on this episode as he brings you a practice to help elevate your teams and support your leadership while either leading or participating on a collaborative team.  Collaboration is not compliance and too often we ignore all the social ways teams can fail. Clarity, clear...

Summer is an amazing time. How can we utilize this summer to reinforce and recognize the efforts of educators? Ted shares with us the research on everything teachers - from hours worked to the money they spend in their classroom. The call to action on this episode is to utilize the summer months to increase staff engagement with a few simple tools that will elevate educators!   Get yourself a pen,...

Ted had crafted a list of texts to read so that you can invest in yourself this summer as a person and leader. These texts will bring you opportunities to practice self-empathy, mindfulness, well-being, and seek meaning. As he explains in this episode - reading matters for all elements of your life and once in a while we need to step away from reading books about our field or content and focus on...

Why do we ignore the wisdom of different generations? Likely because we don't understand the contributions that we are all capable of making. We look past people with lot's of experience and we look past people we think have no experience. But, we all have unique experiences, wisdom, and skills that when combined together, offer the solutions to almost all problems.  Take a listen as Ted explores...

This is a very powerful conversation with a psychotherapist and author who provides some serious smart thinking on how to approach your own mental wellness as well as how to support others. This conversation will leave you wanting her books and everything produced by Amy. Amy Morin and Ted have a wonderful conversation that is applicable to all!  These common sense -- best practices - -allow you t...

Too often we miss the opportunity to grow together at the end of a journey or school year. Don't let the ending screw up your next beginning. Take a listen as we describe a campfire process to support growing together, increasing engagement as well as recognition and acknowledging effort in order to elevate teams and shared culture.  This process will increase collective wisdom and support individ...

Join us a for a great and in-depth conversation on the latest research around employee engagement and the application of your strengths in life and leadership.  Tim and Emily are colleagues at Gallup and are friends of the podcast. Both Tim and Emily share strong insight into our current state of life at work and how to use our strengths to navigate through these "interesting" times.    Walton res...

On this episode Ted revisits his favorite conversation with Greg Harden. Greg Harden was a legendary motivational figure and peak performance coach, best known for his influential work as an administrator and counselor at the University of Michigan. Often described as a "secret weapon" for elite athletes, he played a pivotal role in the mental development of stars like Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, a...

We are living in an age where people are believing the headlines (gossip) and not reading the story. As a result, people are making assumptions about the circumstances in their world and commenting before acquiring the facts. This leads us to a need to ask “what?” and follow the WHAT principle. This episode will help you frame and recognize the need to once again focus on the facts and not the com...

In nature, negative is always attracted to positive. In human nature however, negative attracts more negative. Take a listen as Ted breaks down how to normalize positivity with behaviors and processes. It is time to normalize positivity in our lives and workspaces. This can only occur if we, as individuals, begin to challenge the norm of negativity.  Follow Ted's four steps: See positivity Seek po...

Spring break is around the corner and that means we'll have time to reflect, reenergize, and maybe even relax. Since we are all leaders, that means we all need to invest in ourselves so that we can increase our ability to serve others. On this episode we explore six texts and a process using AI -- to help us increase the application of our learning. Leaders are Readers!    The books: Yes to Life,...

Spring is a season of change and when we lead change, we need some reminders to help us help ourselves and others get through the natural storms of change. We will explore the key behaviors for supporting change by focusing on processes that forecast the changes for others as well as providing tools and processes to support behaviors that will allow for others to find success in all the natural ne...

Each of us need to grow forward. Coaching yourself and others through tools and processes is the best way to increase your leadership capacity and skill sets. Take a listen as we explore how to apply some of the best practices in coaching to support all those we serve and mostly ourselves. This type of coaching is applicable in every arena we find ourselves in – personally and professionally. 

Each of us need to grow forward. Coaching yourself and others through tools and processes is the best way to increase your leadership capacity and skill sets. Take a listen as we explore how to apply some of the best practices in coaching to support all those we serve and mostly ourselves. This type of coaching is applicable in every arena we find ourselves in – personally and professionally.