Mo Gawdat: How Losing My Son Led Me To A Formula for Happiness

Mo Gawdat rose to become Chief Business Officer of Google X, the moonshot factory tasked with solving the world's biggest problems. He had 16 cars in his garage, a nine-bedroom house, and by every conventional measure, had won. And then, in four hours, a preventable surgical mistake took his 21-year-old son Ali. What happened next changed everything.

In this episode, Mo shares the promise he made to Ali, to make him "everywhere and part of everyone", and how that mission became the foundation of his life's real work: making a billion people happy.

This is not a conversation about toxic positivity or blind optimism. It's a masterclass in what happiness actually is (and isn't), why it's your duty — not your reward — and the practical tools Mo uses to bounce back from pain in under seven seconds.

You'll hear Mo on: the 90-second anger rule that will change how you handle every difficult moment; his three-question flowchart for navigating anything life throws at you; why success doesn't lead to happiness — but happiness almost always leads to success; what his son Ali taught him about fixing the world by fixing yourself first; and why the most high-performance path through life is learning to play.

Whether you're chasing the next milestone or questioning whether the chase is even worth it — this one will stay with you.

Our partners in this episode:

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