| Mo Gawdat | |
| Birth Date: | 20 June 1967 |
| Nationality: | Egyptian |
| Alma Mater: | Maastricht School of Management |
| Occupation: | Author, entrepreneur |
Mohammad "Mo" Gawdat (Arabic: محمد جودت) is an Egyptian entrepreneur and writer. He previously served as chief business officer for Google X and is the author of the books Solve for Happy[1] [2] and Scary Smart.[3]
Gawdat was born in Egypt, the son of a civil engineer and an English professor. He showed an early interest in technology.[4]
Gawdat's background is in engineering, paired with an MBA degree from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands.[5]
He began his career at IBM Egypt as a systems engineer, before moving to a sales role in the government sector.[6] Moving to the United Arab Emirates, he joined NCR Abu Dhabi to cover the non-finance sector. At Microsoft, he held various roles over a span of seven-and-a-half years.
He joined Google in 2007,[7] and eventually rose to the position of chief business officer at Google X.
Gawdat is the author of Solve for Happy: Engineering Your Path to Joy (2017). Dedicated to his son Ali, who died in 2014, the book outlines methods for managing and preventing disappointment.[8]
In 2021, Gawdat published Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World through Macmillan.[9]
Gawdat is separated from his wife, Nibal, whom he met at university. They have a daughter, Aya. Their son, Ali, died in 2014, after an appendectomy.[10]