[EP39] How To Raise Kids To Be Brave, Smart And Kind | Patrick “PJ” Brady

In this episode I’m joined by Patrick “PJ” Brady. PJ is the founder of Brave Smart Kind, a company that started out as a way for him to teach his 3 daughters English. He also wanted to redefine the word “beautiful” to mean something that people feel on the inside, something to help them develop confidence, something they could control.

We had an amazing conversation about what it means to have “values” and “how do you define them”. We also talked about the education system, our concerns and where we see opportunities. If you are a parent that is concerned about what is happening in the world, but also encouraged by the possibilities we can co-created to educate our kids to be more brave, smart and kind, you’ll love this episode!

Episode Topics

5:16 | PJ reflects on what Brene Brown’s “survival guide” quote means to him
6:59 | Why the darkness in the world is actually a blessing in disguise
8:15 | Why values should be defined at a young age, not after you “become” a leader
10:36 | How to help your kids define their own values
16:34 | What to do when you are unclear on your own personal values
26:08 | Do your personal and corporate values need to be the same?
30:16 | How values played a major role in Trevor selling his agency
33:54 | Shouldn’t we be teaching this stuff to our damn kids in school
44:44 | Should your education be conditional on the neighborhood you live in?
47:59 | When PJ runs for King of the World…this is what he’ll do…
49:22 | Who is ONE person or mentor that has been the most influential in your life (all time)?
50:27 | Who is the ONE person/mentor that is the most influential in your life (right now)
51:56 | What is the ONE philanthropic cause that means the most to you and why?
54:32 | What is the ONE thing you are most grateful for in your life right now?
58:22 | What is the ONE thing that you are most curious about right now and wanting to explore more in your life?
1:00:45 | What is the ONE thing that scares you right now that you know you must meet with bravery?
1:03:08 | Where can people find out more about you and connect with you online?

Episode Quotes

“I try to raise my girls with courage, critical thought and kindness. And, every single time it goes back to some kind of childhood trauma or joy, the lessons that I learned in childhood have been the saving grace for myself and my kids…even though they don’t know it yet.” – PJ Brady

“As a parent looking at how this world is right now on a macro level, it gets everyone questioning everything. I think it’s a blessing. Even some of the really dark, bad things we see happening.” – Trevor Turnbull

“It always broke my heart when any woman in my life said that she wasn’t beautiful. If there is a gift I can give my daughters, it’s that when they grow up they FEEL beautiful.” – PJ Brady

“Beautiful means 3 things only…it means to be brave, smart and kind. If we can put things through the right filter and understand values from a framework…then we can be raised with values with more intention rather than by accident.” – PJ Brady

“There’s a bunch of questions we ask to help people define values. But, there’s 2 really important ones I ask. 1. What makes you angry? 2. How do you fail?” – PJ Brady

“At the end of the day, if your leaders are not living the values of the company, you are kinda screwed.” – PJ Brady

“Anytime we do values and they introduce me to the marketing team, I know we are in trouble right away.” – PJ Brady

“The founder of the company that bought my agency created value statements. It played a big part in why I sold my business. Every time I thought about the pros and cons of selling, I went back to these and it played a big part in my decision.” – Trevor Turnbull

“If one of your values is – put people first. People will start to question the values if all of a sudden you are making decisions that aren’t putting the people first. What happens when you have an issue that puts one person against another person?” – PJ Brady

“If we can get the parents and teachers to work off the same playbook where we say – hey, this is how we want people to treat each other. That will magnify the message to the kids that this is really important.” – PJ Brady

“When you’ve got parents or administrators or politicians saying – well, if the teachers would just do their jobs – don’t talk about gender, we don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. And then you have the kid that’s considering suicide because they can’t come out to their family and they have a teacher that can’t talk to them about it. Are you kidding me….are you kidding me?” – PJ Brady

“I had a business partner who made a choice to live in a neighborhood in Santa Barbara where their rent was 3x more so they could put their kids into a higher end school. It’s not a privilege thing, he made the sacrifices to be able to do that. But, what happens to the rest of these kids…they get the leftovers?” – Trevor Turnbull

“When I ask parents – what do you want your kid to be. Usually it’s not, I want them to be a doctor or lawyer…it’s, I want them to be happy. But, aren’t we taking a lot of that stuff out of our educational system.” – PJ Brady

“Imagine if we taught our kids that money is energy. And, asked the question – what does that mean. And then spent the next 6 years to break that down. And, made them realize that it’s not only about a piece of paper but rather a feeling. Imagine that world.” – Trevor Turnbull

“When I run for King Of The World, my platform is going to be…fund the shit out of education. Can we please take all this money we are spending and start at the foundational level and stop taking money away from education.” – PJ Brady

“I remember hearing recently that we used to trust our politicians and laugh at our comedians. Now, we trust our comedians and laugh at our politicians. So true :).” – Trevor Turnbull