Mo Gawdat

Mo Gawdat is the former Chief Business Officer at Google [X], now a bestselling author and speaker on happiness, innovation, and the future of AI.

Mo Gawdat is a former Chief Business Officer at Google [X], the company’s renowned innovation lab responsible for ambitious projects such as self-driving cars, Google Brain, and Project Loon. Over a 30-year career in tech, Mo played a central role in building innovation models that have become benchmarks for transformative thinking and radical problem-solving.

Originally joining Google in 2007, Mo focused much of his career on emerging markets, helping to shape scalable, inclusive solutions for some of the world’s most complex challenges. His work at [X] was instrumental in turning bold, experimental “moonshots” into commercially viable ventures that are now part of everyday life.

In 2014, following the heartbreaking loss of his son Ali, Mo shifted focus to understanding happiness—drawing on his background in engineering to take a systematic approach. The result was Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy, an international bestseller that shares the tools and thinking behind his personal mission: to help one billion people become happier (#OneBillionHappy).

Mo continues to explore themes of purpose, wellbeing, and the future through his podcast Slo Mo, which features thoughtful conversations with global thinkers, and through his writing. His second book, Scary Smart, examines the rise of artificial intelligence and offers a practical guide for shaping a positive human–AI future.

Mo is a powerful speaker whose talks combine deep insight with heartfelt storytelling—offering organisations and audiences a rare perspective on innovation, resilience, and finding meaning in a fast-changing world.