Mo Gawdat

So I end up with around 2 million of the 4.2. And then he tells his team, ask this guy. He said Sun and Oracle. And so I give them genuine advice and they give the orders to other businesses. A few months later, the minister calls me to his office directly. No bids, no nothing. He says, I want to build this. Can you build it?

So I end up with around 2 million of the 4.2. And then he tells his team, ask this guy. He said Sun and Oracle. And so I give them genuine advice and they give the orders to other businesses. A few months later, the minister calls me to his office directly. No bids, no nothing. He says, I want to build this. Can you build it?

So I said, yes, sir, I can build this, this, this, this and that comfort zone for me. This, I think you should go to Dell. That, I think you should do this way. And ended up with a $16.4 million direct order from the government four months later. And I have to say, from then onwards, I never sold anything other than what the customer exactly wanted.

So I said, yes, sir, I can build this, this, this, this and that comfort zone for me. This, I think you should go to Dell. That, I think you should do this way. And ended up with a $16.4 million direct order from the government four months later. And I have to say, from then onwards, I never sold anything other than what the customer exactly wanted.

And my God, I basically didn't have to work ever again. I swear. I'd go sit with my clients at top levels at Google's years in my very last years at Google. These were billions of dollars sometimes. And yeah, sit there and the customer would say what they want. And I listen attentively. And half of the time I'd say, I can't help you. Okay.

And my God, I basically didn't have to work ever again. I swear. I'd go sit with my clients at top levels at Google's years in my very last years at Google. These were billions of dollars sometimes. And yeah, sit there and the customer would say what they want. And I listen attentively. And half of the time I'd say, I can't help you. Okay.

And then occasionally I would say, oh yeah, I can ace this one.

And then occasionally I would say, oh yeah, I can ace this one.

Absolutely. Once I said that, every one of my clients, which by then I had known for 20 years, would go like, and how much would it be? And I go like, I'll tell you tomorrow. And then I send them a proposal and they say yes. It's as simple as that. I have to say there is a bit of my Eastern side in this. I was born and raised in the East with the traditions of the East.

Absolutely. Once I said that, every one of my clients, which by then I had known for 20 years, would go like, and how much would it be? And I go like, I'll tell you tomorrow. And then I send them a proposal and they say yes. It's as simple as that. I have to say there is a bit of my Eastern side in this. I was born and raised in the East with the traditions of the East.

And then I was educated and worked my entire adult life in the West. You know, the West, because of the OKRs, if you want, the measurements of success, basically really, really values working hard, pushing through, being profitable, making money. And the top two values I found in the West were freedom and, you know, it's the individual, really. So it's my individual benefit and freedom.

And then I was educated and worked my entire adult life in the West. You know, the West, because of the OKRs, if you want, the measurements of success, basically really, really values working hard, pushing through, being profitable, making money. And the top two values I found in the West were freedom and, you know, it's the individual, really. So it's my individual benefit and freedom.

In the East, it's not how we're raised at all. In the East, it's all about the community and it's about respect. And I think that obsession with the success of the community, I think really made me a good businessman.

In the East, it's not how we're raised at all. In the East, it's all about the community and it's about respect. And I think that obsession with the success of the community, I think really made me a good businessman.

Because if you really don't look at the short term of the quarterly pressure, building those deep relationships when I was a salesman at IBM or Microsoft or sales manager at Microsoft or whatever, or regional director at Microsoft and so on, all of those roles, Those people became prime ministers just 10, 15 years later. They became the CEOs of all of those organizations.

Because if you really don't look at the short term of the quarterly pressure, building those deep relationships when I was a salesman at IBM or Microsoft or sales manager at Microsoft or whatever, or regional director at Microsoft and so on, all of those roles, Those people became prime ministers just 10, 15 years later. They became the CEOs of all of those organizations.

And so when Sergey Brin would ask me to do something very, very complex from a governmental point of view, like self-driving cars, for example, or whatever, to get approvals for them, I would literally pick up the phone and call the minister of transport in Singapore or call the minister of the prime minister here in the UAE or whatever. And they basically knew me as someone they trusted.

And so when Sergey Brin would ask me to do something very, very complex from a governmental point of view, like self-driving cars, for example, or whatever, to get approvals for them, I would literally pick up the phone and call the minister of transport in Singapore or call the minister of the prime minister here in the UAE or whatever. And they basically knew me as someone they trusted.

Makes a massive difference.

Makes a massive difference.