Mo Gawdat

Mo Gawdat, founder of #onebillionhappy, is author of Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy. A systems engineer and serial entrepreneur, Mo’s engineering career began at IBM Egypt. He then worked at Microsoft and later joined Google to launch the platform in 50 emerging markets. Mo was fascinated by the role technology plays in empowering people in emerging communities, and dedicated years of his career towards that passion.

In 2013, Mo transitioned to Google’s world-famous innovation lab, Google [X], where he led business strategy, planning, sales, development and partnerships alongside an elite team of engineers who develop new technologies that deliver radical improvements in the way the world works. Mo has cofounded more than 20 businesses and mentors multiple start-ups at any point in time.

Mo had reached the pinnacle of success by the time he turned 28, but realized that despite being on top of the corporate ladder with all its perks, a wonderful wife and two young children, he was clinically depressed. As an engineer, he set out to fix the problem by examining provable facts and applying logic. Thirteen years later, Mo’s happiness model was put to the ultimate test after the sudden death of his son, Ali, the result of a preventable medical error during a routine surgical procedure. In dealing with this devastating loss, Mo found his mission: to continue Ali’s peaceful legacy by helping as many people as possible become happier. It begins with a simple premise ­– Happiness is a choice.

Mo left Google [X] in March 2018 to dedicate the rest of his life to #onebillionhappy.