Mo Gawdat

I was the happiest person ever until the death of my wonderful son Ali. The surgeon does five mistakes in a row. Every one of them was preventable. I felt a physical part of my heart disappear. Suddenly life is put in perspective. My capitalist hat turns from I want to finish my life a billionaire to I want to finish my life a billionaire of happiness. And there I am.

I was the happiest person ever until the death of my wonderful son Ali. The surgeon does five mistakes in a row. Every one of them was preventable. I felt a physical part of my heart disappear. Suddenly life is put in perspective. My capitalist hat turns from I want to finish my life a billionaire to I want to finish my life a billionaire of happiness. And there I am.

I'm no longer a corporate executive. I no longer have stocks falling into my bank account every week. And I've never been happier. It's not the events of your life that stress you. It's the way you deal with them that does. We say there are four quadrants of stress. We call them...

I'm no longer a corporate executive. I no longer have stocks falling into my bank account every week. And I've never been happier. It's not the events of your life that stress you. It's the way you deal with them that does. We say there are four quadrants of stress. We call them...

Thank you so much. It's an honor. You're setting me up now for people to expect quite a bit. I don't have that much, probably, but let's give it a try.

Thank you so much. It's an honor. You're setting me up now for people to expect quite a bit. I don't have that much, probably, but let's give it a try.

It is actually quite an odd story, if you ask me. I always say that when I was hired as the chief business officer of Google X, There would have probably been at least 10,000 Americans that were more fit for that job than I am, right? They knew the market better, lived in California already, understood Silicon Valley better.

It is actually quite an odd story, if you ask me. I always say that when I was hired as the chief business officer of Google X, There would have probably been at least 10,000 Americans that were more fit for that job than I am, right? They knew the market better, lived in California already, understood Silicon Valley better.

My wonderful daughter normally tells me that I was paid in advance, which is probably the core of my story. But let's go back to the beginning. As you said, I was born and raised in Egypt, public school, public university in Egypt. My mom was an academic. who loved reading and learning. She taught English, so she taught me badly, as you can see with my weird accent.

My wonderful daughter normally tells me that I was paid in advance, which is probably the core of my story. But let's go back to the beginning. As you said, I was born and raised in Egypt, public school, public university in Egypt. My mom was an academic. who loved reading and learning. She taught English, so she taught me badly, as you can see with my weird accent.

And my dad was a math geek and a very serious engineer. Interestingly, in our family, my mom was more the order and discipline. My dad was the heart.

And my dad was a math geek and a very serious engineer. Interestingly, in our family, my mom was more the order and discipline. My dad was the heart.

even though you can see the interesting mix because he was a real geek right i was born a little bit on the spectrum which was not diagnosed but became very clear when i became older and had conversations with my mom about what it was like when i was a child where i completely understood mathematics way better than i understood english or arabic at the time

even though you can see the interesting mix because he was a real geek right i was born a little bit on the spectrum which was not diagnosed but became very clear when i became older and had conversations with my mom about what it was like when i was a child where i completely understood mathematics way better than i understood english or arabic at the time

In my hometown in Cairo, that's not what kids want you to do to be able to be friends. They wanted me to play soccer and basically talk about silly stuff. And it was quite complex for me because I would hide to read my physics books. And I thought of myself as something is wrong with me. And, you know, in a way, as I say, it's probably my diversity that made me not worry that much about them.

In my hometown in Cairo, that's not what kids want you to do to be able to be friends. They wanted me to play soccer and basically talk about silly stuff. And it was quite complex for me because I would hide to read my physics books. And I thought of myself as something is wrong with me. And, you know, in a way, as I say, it's probably my diversity that made me not worry that much about them.

and continue to invest in what I loved in the background. And I have to say, I think it was my parents probably my mom a bit more than my dad, but my dad was very supportive, who encouraged me to try absolutely everything. Anything I asked for. I remember when I was maybe 11, I asked to play the piano. So they bought me one of those electric pianos. I failed miserably.

and continue to invest in what I loved in the background. And I have to say, I think it was my parents probably my mom a bit more than my dad, but my dad was very supportive, who encouraged me to try absolutely everything. Anything I asked for. I remember when I was maybe 11, I asked to play the piano. So they bought me one of those electric pianos. I failed miserably.

And then a week later I said, can I play the guitar? And you'd probably expect them to say no. Right? And we were not rich, but they were so supportive. Four weeks later, I bought a guitar and I played really, really well for so many years of my life. And it was that constant ability to try and fail and then try something different and fail that I think made a massive difference.

And then a week later I said, can I play the guitar? And you'd probably expect them to say no. Right? And we were not rich, but they were so supportive. Four weeks later, I bought a guitar and I played really, really well for so many years of my life. And it was that constant ability to try and fail and then try something different and fail that I think made a massive difference.