40 Minute Mentor

November 29, 2023

Replay: Mo Gawdat – Turning heartbreak into purpose and cultivating happiness in your career

From a successful career at Google, to the journey of making 1 billion people happy.

That is the story of Mo Gawdat, the former Chief Business Officer of Google X, author of Solve for Happy and Founder of One Billion Happy.

It’s an episode full of wisdom, honesty and candid reflections.

In today’s 40 Minute Mentor Replay, Mo shares his incredible story, including spending 25 years in tech and the devastating experience of losing his son in 2014 which set him on a completely new path.

“I was most unhappy at work when I was making the most money and the biggest amount of success.”

Mo Gawdat

Tune in to discover

Heartbreak and loss, finding a new purpose in pain [04:31]
The beginning of his happiness journey [06:34]
Going viral with 1 Billion Happy [07:44]
Committed acceptance in the face of grief [09:29]
Anger lessons from Gandhi’s grandson [13:26]
Mo’s work as a happiness engineer [15:27]
The three ingredients for success [20:14]
Finding your purpose by knowing what doesn’t resonate [23:12]
The infinite game called life [25:08]
Finding micro-purposes in the everyday [27:40]
The power of making happiness a choice [33:05]
Definition of happiness is and the golden age of compassion [34:32]
Allowing yourself to be a mentee, using your circle of support [37:31]
The problem with being remembered… [39:34]

Listen on

Helpful links

➡️ Connect with Mo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mogawdat/
➡️ Find out more about One Billion Happy: http://onebillionhappy.org/
➡️ Listen to Mo’s podcast, Slow Mo: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/slo-mo-a-podcast-with-mo-gawdat/id1508914142

Enjoyed this episode?

Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review.

Explore more episodes

40 Minute Mentor: Alex Depledge MBE
17 Dec, 2025

Alex Depledge MBE on taking a Founder’s Mind into the Government & why the UK is a great place to scale

40 Minute Mentor: Talent Predictions
12 Dec, 2025

Talent Predictions for 2026: How to attract and hire the best talent in the year ahead with Amplified People Group’s Sophie Graci, Zach Rose, James Adams and Lisa Crane

40 Minute Mentor: People Predicitons
10 Dec, 2025

People Predictions for 2026: The Future of Leadership and High-Performing Teams with Amplified Group’s Sophie Matthews, Nat Falconer, Mikael Nilsson and Logan Black