Writer, illustrator and director Brad Montague shares his origin story and how he found his passion for storytelling and celebrating children. He discusses the journey of "Kid President" and the impact it had on people around the world.
Brad also talks about the importance of embracing failure and creating a safe space for growth and learning. He highlights the beauty of childlike creativity and the need for more kindness and compassion in the world.
In this episode of the RKD Group: Thinkers podcast, Brad Montague discusses his passion for storytelling, the journey of "Kid President," and the impact of embracing failure, childlike creativity, and kindness.
He shares about:
Justin McCord
So Brad, my first question for you is, where did you come from? And I don't mean, like, where did you grow up? I mean―and you actually had little Brad up on screen―but like, tell us about little Brad. Tell us about, like, where … give us a little bit of your origin story. And then I want us to get into, like, how did we get from little Brad to ... big little Brad, which is the Brad that we know today.
Brad Montague
This is, like, a big question. Like the, where did you come from? I immediately think of “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” and I'm thinking, you know, where am I going, and what's happening? And there's a lot to unpack with that song. And then, and then you need to think “origin story” too. I wish I could tell you I was bit by a radioactive spider or there was some epic journey, but my story is one of the epic things of being alive ...
Ronnie Richard
I did too, actually.
Brad Montague
… being a person and learning to be that still. I grew up in a small town in West Tennessee on a farm around nature and felt like a little alien because I was a creative kid, and my family's creative but in completely different ways. And so, I was an inside kid. I liked to draw, and dream and feel big feelings. And they were like, we don't know what to do with you. And so, I did have a handful of really great adults in my life that I look to as, that's how you celebrate the weird, unique qualities of the kids around you and help them feel seen. And that stuck with me.
So as I grew, I had tried on many hats, working in many different spaces. I changed my major maybe 15 times in college until I landed in media arts and film. But even after that, I worked in news, I've worked in advertising, I've worked in higher education, I've worked in so many different spaces, but each one was going, this isn't quite right.
And then, when I started thinking back to being a child and the way those great adults in my life made me feel, I suddenly had a North Star: That's what I … that's … I wanna do that. I don't know what that looks like, but I wanna do that. And so, I'm still kind of asking that question: How can I do that, be what I had when I was a kid? And also being what I didn't have, kind of … that leads to some not boring places.
Ronnie Richard
Was there something that, like an event that happened or something that brought that aha moment to you? Or did it just sort of occur naturally as you were doing things and not feeling the right fit? How did that come about?
Brad Montague
Well, yeah, you know, I worked in news where you're given, you know, stories to tell. So it'd be like, all right, hey, kid, get the camera, go out there and film. And, you know, it would be a car accident. It would be a protest. It would be some break in. And then I show up after the fact with the camera, and I would just capture the artifacts of whatever happened. And, okay, here we are. And I got so, like, stuck in getting great shots, and I got pretty good at it, like, just getting, capturing the story I was told to tell, and then showing back up to the, you know, the studio and then cutting it together into a thing that would appear on the news. And I realized one day when I was filming―it was a car accident that had happened, and I got this beautiful shot of shattered glass―and I noticed in the edit room, you know, just like, kind of, out in the back and this blur was this human crying.
And I didn't even notice that person crying when I was doing the shot. And I couldn't in good conscience put that in the story. And it hit me that, like, I was so focused on telling the story I was being assigned to tell that I missed out on this person having the worst day of their life, and I just captured it coldly. And so I went, I'm not gonna do that again.
And so I moved into advertising, which was then, no, now I'm still telling other people's stories, and I'm doing this, but trying to find the humanity in that, and bring humanity into that and do storytelling, not just story selling, and really connect with people and the humanity of it. And through that, I started realizing I was so drawn to the stories we're told when we're kids and the stories that we share to children.
Justin McCord
Yeah.
Brad Montague
And the more I did that, the more I started actually listening to children. And that has changed everything. And that's now the habit of actually listening more than I'm telling a story.
Justin McCord
One of the areas where your story starts to get wider, not that knowing you as much as we know you now, that's not your goal, and that's not your intent. Kindness is largely what your calling looks like, but your story got wider as Kid President took off and ... Can you tell us about how Kid President came to be? Like, where that idea came from? And then at some point, how did you navigate the growing, the rapid growing popularity of that creative platform?
Brad Montague
That's a good question. There was this quote I had written down on the front of one of my notebooks in high school. And it was from Andy Kaufman, the like, you know, comedian/ performance artist, Latka on “Taxi.” He said in an interview one time, your world is as big as you make it. And I … that, like, was just such a cool idea to me because I grew up in a small town, one stop light, the road I grew up on is a dead-end road. Like, it's just kind of … and to hear those words, wait, you could make your world big! Like, you could, and so that to my imagination was like, I want to create things and create a big world around what I do.
I didn't quite know what that would look like. And as I was working and kind of finding my voice and creating short videos online, creating commercials, directing little pieces here and there, I was happy with that, but I constantly was at these ideas brewing: I want to do this. I want to make this happen. I want to do this. And a really great friend named Jeff Schoenberger, who works in social impact space―brilliant mind. He's one of those equal parts streamer and doer―And he heard me over and over say, I’ve got this idea. I want to do this. I’ve got this idea. And one time he just said to me, you have all these ideas. We're just waiting on you to actually do one of them. That was, it hurt, you know, in that time, in that moment. But it was this heavy truth. I needed it, that like, I had just been dreaming up this big world, but I'm actually doing it. So, Kid President grew out of that desire.
And at the same time, I was wanting to do more that brought a childlikeness to my work and to the world. And so, as I started doing that project, the idea was not just to, like, have the idea, but to stick with it for a while. So, it was the summer, and Robbie, who played the part of Kid President, was one of my favorite people on the earth. And I loved spending time with him. And we ... I asked if he wanted to be part of this thing. He could pretend to be president of the world. And what would you do or say to the world? And he did what awesome kids do, he just immediately, joyfully danced behind this fake desk. And my habit then was to not just have an idea, but stick with it. So every week I posted a new video, and they were short. They were just joyful little bursts.
Ronnie Richard
Ha ha.
Brad Montague
We called him a hand grenade of happiness into the internet, just lobbing it out into the internet. And there was no, you know, map or no thing, no master strategy for we're going to build this empire. I'm going to make the thing I said I was going to make and at least do that for three months. And by the third month, Rainn Wilson, who plays played Dwight on “The Office,” called and suddenly this was no longer just a, hey, that'd be a fun idea. It now became, it's actually happening in the world. Yeah. Yeah. And navigating that next step was all new terrain, and it was scary to go from, okay, now our world is really growing where it's not just friends and family watching these things, it's people from all over are now watching.
Ronnie Richard
That's a wild moment, yeah.
Brad Montague
And so, I was suddenly dealing with finding my voice and also finding an audience that was finding the work. And every week I learned from that, that was my grad school in so many ways. It was making a thing every single day and instantly receiving a response from an audience that was seeing that. They wouldn't just watch the thing, but then they went and did something. And that was, and still is, contagious to me. We did a video where we threw a joyful parade, a surprise parade for a postal worker. And then, you know, within a week of that video being online, there were dozens of parades across the country. And now years later, still people throwing parades.
And so I realized, wow, stories we tell can create the world we live in, and the things we make can make the world we live in. And what's cooler than throwing a parade? It's hundreds of parades happening. And so, that idea of an idea expanding your world and the real world around us is what I love and why I still make things every day.
Ronnie Richard
So as the Kid President videos start taking off, you're starting to spread wider, people are starting to contact you, all these things. What are you thinking about where this is going? Where do I go from here? You're living in Henderson, I assume, Tennessee, the small town. Are you thinking ...
Brad Montague
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no. Like, yeah, I mean, you know, one of the first things to pick it up was “Tosh.0,” which at the time was just, you know, mocking everything online. And they shared one of the videos I had just posted that morning, and I saw them not rip it apart, but just go like, this is so sweet. We have nothing mean to say. And it was so like, what? Huh?
Ronnie Richard
No. What now, right?
Brad Montague
And disarming in that way. Then actual politicians start using this video of a pretend president, then teachers beginning to use things in the classroom. And then, you know, it becomes a runaway train of people finding it and seeing it. And you can't control how or what context they saw it in, who presented it to them, how much of it they watched. And yet, they have an opinion about it and want to share with you. And then they're saying, here's where I think you should go next. You know, like when we had the Kid President pep talk video was the one that most people saw first. That was maybe our 15th video since we joined SoulPancake with Rainn Wilson, that YouTube channel. I've made several, but people were like, look at this new thing. Like this, I like your video. And I'm like, I've made so many things, and yet they saw that. And then immediately are calling wanting my brother-in-law to be in horror movies or to, like, do a commercial for an energy drink.
And this was a bit of the Wild West days of YouTube where we're still like, it's kind of, it was kind of a joke, and people weren't really seeing it as a business. And I definitely didn't see it as that. And the idea of an influencer was just not at all what we were wanting this to be. It wasn't to make a child famous or to create an influence, it was to celebrate children and bring people together. And yet the internet was like, no, no, no, this is what it is. We want it to be about this one kid, and we want it to be about this. We would, yes. And so, it was a constant going, no, no, no, this is about all kids. No, no, no, this is, this is not to sell things; this is to bring people together. No, no, no, no, we're not just trying to build, like ...
Ronnie Richard
We'll tell you.
Brad Montague
… a platform, we're building a community and, and, and which is a platform, but we … it was constantly asking, what's our compass? Where are we sailing to? I don't know. I didn't start this up. The only reason I started this was ‘cause I liked being with Robbie, and I wanted to make cool things, and, and both of those things were happening. And so to me, that was the success. Now the icing on the cake was that it was actually impacting the world. And so that, then, became the third thing of impact, of wow, like, this is meaningful to people in a way.
And so, I did have a moment of complete shutdown several times of, okay, I can't do this anymore. I don't want to, like, this is not, this is too much. And there was a really great group of people who scooped me up and helped me through that, including my family, Robbie's parents, a few other creators online who had been through similar things and were like, hey, you don't have to make anything else for the rest of your life. Just like, you're fine. You don't feel this pressure. Like, just love, the love that started from, like, that's what this is about. That was really helpful and healthy and has kept me whole and healthy throughout the years, you know, not completely burning out that creative spark, that heart that this all grew from. But I would like to keep showing up and making things. The audience doesn't always show up, but I will.
Justin McCord
It's so interesting when you talk about, like, that balance of a North Star and then the pressure of execution, right? Of creation and, like, that tension. You joined us a little over a month ago for an event that we were producing in D.C. for nonprofit leaders and …
Brad Montague
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin McCord
… that's the tension that we see nonprofit leaders live with is North Star, compassion, purpose, execution, day to day. And like, it is this incredible tension. And I'm just curious, like, as you've reflected on that evening and … or the, the folks that you visited with, just, like, what were some of your takeaways, or what are some of the things that, that helped frame for you about many of these very talented, exceptionally purpose-minded individuals that are working to help make the world more humane, just and compassionate?
Brad Montague
Yes, yes. That's exactly who they were. I kind of could feel that instantly with them, even though I would see these people probably, they probably work in a much more professional, formal context than I'm used to. I don't know what we could have a conversation about. And yet it was the most beautiful experience of meeting some of the most passionate, wildly creative, brilliant people who do their work from a purposeful place, who are driven by this hope and driven by this desire to create good in the world.
And I felt this instant connection with their struggle to have this beautiful dream and then have this day-to-day thing you have to do of showing up and all of the tangle you can get caught up in. And I got to have this conversation. It was, like, after the event, it was so late. Like, it's so late, talking and hearing all these stories. And it was just so clear that these people were tired and had faced disappointment in different ways and yet were still committed to that dream that started in the first place. That's still worth it. And I think for me, I left that going, man, I've got shipmates. Like, these people are like in the battle for good every day, and they're not alone. And ... and I've been hearing from people ever since, like, just constant little notes of, of keep going, what you do matters. And I'm like, what do you mean what I do? I draw little cats and mice every day. Like, what do you mean what I do matters? What you do is like, actually … but you know, I need, I needed to know that. And so it's really cool, the work they're doing, but collectively, it's exceptionally mind-blowing what they're all doing and what, what it means when they come together. Like, that … it's unreal.
Ronnie Richard
One of my takeaways from your speech that night was this idea of don't be afraid to fail. And I think you called it a fail-abrasion, if I remember correctly. Can you unpack that a little bit for our listeners and what that means?
Brad Montague
Yeah. So, fail liberation was a, an experiment. I wanted to throw an event and have people, in starting. I just wanted to have an event, like, throw people and have people come. I hadn't gotten to have a party and invite people. And I'd never done anything where I invited people, and they bought tickets, and I thought, we're renting a space. Let's, let's do this. And so the theme became failure. I thought, well, that, that way, if this event doesn't go well, I succeeded in it being about failure. And yeah.
Ronnie Richard
It's themed well.
Brad Montague
Yeah. And so, I invited these really impressive people to speak but told them they weren't allowed to talk about any success. It had to be about a fiasco, a complete, you know, disaster. I want it to be a Ted talk, but terrible. And you'll get applause. It won't be recorded, so you can be vulnerable. And it was beautiful. And it spilled out into this other thing where the more I shared about this idea, it started to spread where Priya Parker, who does these writings about the art of gathering, she did a whole thing. Usually she's about, you know, perfect events. And here's how you and she did this whole thing about doing a purposefully failed failure of an event. And, and schools started doing them and nonprofits. And it was just incredible to see it spread. And I’m still kind of scratching my head about why does this idea of it's OK to fail, like, let's ... I was like, I'm not celebrating mediocrity. Like, what is it that's happening here? And what it was is, it is such a human thing that we need a safe place to grow, and learn, and help each other grow, and learn and to know it's okay.
And I really, it really came home to me that, okay, I'm gonna stick with this idea. When I'm in a classroom―and I do a lot of times with classrooms―I'll do a guided drawing, and I'll show like, okay, I'm gonna draw a rabbit. So I'll grab, you know, a pen, and then I'll go, okay, I'm gonna draw a rabbit, and I start drawing this, and now I'm gonna do an ear, and then I'll see a whole bunch of kids in the room just start slamming their fist down or crumpling the paper up immediately just because they didn't get the first circle right. And it was in one class, and a couple of kids actually were crying, and it's just a circle. And so I then shifted to go, okay, now like this guided drawing, to just make a scribble, whatever you want. And that also stressed some of the kids out because they want to do it perfect. Like, what kind of scribble? How big?
And then I find that one in three young people in our country wrestle with anxiety to such a degree that they can't show up at school or in the world. One in three. And that there's this really big need, this vital need, for us to pop that perfection bubble, especially in school, and give them a safe place to screw up, and be okay to scribble and make a mess and try and grow. And the idea is not to not fail, it's to fail better. And it works for fourth graders, and it works for people who are in the C-suite of a company to know.
Hey, we all need to share those moments of vulnerability, of I tried this, and you know what? Screwed up. But here's where I'm going next. So, fail, fail better. And that also means to fail in community with people and finding that you have shipmates, you have other people. And that's part of what I loved about what it unlocks whenever I start sharing about a screwup in my own life or, you know, I talk about that, like, that night with all of you in your community, it put everybody in this posture of we're equals. We've all done incredible things, but we've also, like, done cringe-worthy, terrible things that we're not proud of. We'd rather not tell everybody, but you know what? I don't want them to repeat this mistake. Everything, from fundraising to messaging to an email that was sent at the wrong time to the wrong group of people, to, you know, all sorts of mishaps that can happen. But it just brings us all to a place of learning alongside each other and working and growing alongside each other. And I want to see more of it. So, yeah.
Justin McCord
There's beauty not just in the learning, but also in what's created in the midst of that failure because there's still creativity in it. And one of the things that I absolutely adore is when on your Instagram account, you share some of the creative projects that kids share. Most recently you've been ...
Brad Montague
Totally, yes, yes.
Justin McCord
… around some camps, and you've shared some creative things that these campers have created that are wildly creative, like, massively interesting, unique perspectives. And sometimes it's like the most simple thing, and sometimes it's a very complex thing. And lovingly, they all are odd ...
Brad Montague
Yeah, yeah. Yes.
Justin McCord
… but they're all beautiful at the same time, right? And that's the same thing that, like, one of my takeaways from the conversations about failure is, like, there's a big difference between failing and a mistake. And then you create something that doesn't seem the way that you thought it would, but you can still learn from it.
Brad Montague
Right, right, right. Yeah, I actually, this morning I was just at camp, like, we helped run a summer camp for eight weeks in the summer. We're in our third week right now. I was out at the craft house just before logging on with you guys, and they had a drawing competition, and the only prompt was “Alien.” And I mean, kids immediately just like, got this, you know, drawing. One kid from his imagination drew alien from the movie “Alien,” but he's wearing a party hat and like just, like, this crazy stuff that they started making and just one simple permission to go just do it, and there was no real reward. It was just, like, to do, and I am sitting there, I draw for a living I think, like, and I was just in awe of them, like, watching them go so freely, so fun, like, not worrying about any sort of … and it made me want to make a cool thing too. Like, I wanted to, I was jealous of that sort of freedom they had. And there's a place that we come to when we become more childlike and not childish. And I think it's very childish for us to give up when things aren't perfect, and it's childish for us to be like, I'm not good enough, I'm not gonna do this. Or it's childish for us to hold our gifts, and it's childlike to be open and generous. And so, when I share these things that are the craft house stuff of kids making things out of toilet paper tubes and googly eyes, it's to remind myself and everybody else that, man, we could sure stand to be a lot more childlike.
Justin McCord
Well said, man, and the permission to be creative is so, so important. So, Brad, we want you to be able to get back to camp. We're so thankful for the time that you've spent with us. We're thankful for your story. We're thankful for your humanity and the kindness that you put out into the world, and it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, you do continue to inspire us, and so, keep doing what you're doing. Keep that North Star of unlocking creativity for people because it matters for four-year-olds, and 40-year-olds and 400-year-olds, okay? Just so that you know.
Brad Montague
Man, there are compliments, and then there's compliments from people that you respect madly. And I just, I am so glad you guys exist, and the way you're doing what you're doing is cool, and the way you're doing it is cool. From the minute I heard from you and we had a conversation, I was just like, these guys care. Like, that's, that's huge.
Ronnie Richard
Thank you.
Justin McCord
Thank you.
Brad Montague
You care about the people you're working with, you care about the impact that's being made, and you care about what you present to them. I'm inspired that you're doing what you're doing. And so, it gave me hope to know that teams like yours exist, and may it spread far and wide, friends.
Justin McCord
And may we find more shipmates. That's what I love, like, more shipmates. Yeah, awesome. All right, man, listen, we can't wait to see what happens. We can't wait to see the book, “Failed Liberation,” come out in September. And we're gonna be watching. We're gonna be watching for every craft you post and the stories that you tell.
Ronnie Richard
There you go.
Brad Montague
Totally, we got some cool places to go. Thanks