Mo Gawdat

And then I was educated and worked my entire adult life in the West. You know, the West, because of the OKRs, if you want, the measurements of success, basically really, really values working hard, pushing through, being profitable, making money. And the top two values I found in the West were freedom and, you know, it's the individual, really. So it's my individual benefit and freedom.

In the East, it's not how we're raised at all. In the East, it's all about the community and it's about respect. And I think that obsession with the success of the community, I think really made me a good businessman.

In the East, it's not how we're raised at all. In the East, it's all about the community and it's about respect. And I think that obsession with the success of the community, I think really made me a good businessman.

Because if you really don't look at the short term of the quarterly pressure, building those deep relationships when I was a salesman at IBM or Microsoft or sales manager at Microsoft or whatever, or regional director at Microsoft and so on, all of those roles, Those people became prime ministers just 10, 15 years later. They became the CEOs of all of those organizations.

Because if you really don't look at the short term of the quarterly pressure, building those deep relationships when I was a salesman at IBM or Microsoft or sales manager at Microsoft or whatever, or regional director at Microsoft and so on, all of those roles, Those people became prime ministers just 10, 15 years later. They became the CEOs of all of those organizations.

And so when Sergey Brin would ask me to do something very, very complex from a governmental point of view, like self-driving cars, for example, or whatever, to get approvals for them, I would literally pick up the phone and call the minister of transport in Singapore or call the minister of the prime minister here in the UAE or whatever. And they basically knew me as someone they trusted.

And so when Sergey Brin would ask me to do something very, very complex from a governmental point of view, like self-driving cars, for example, or whatever, to get approvals for them, I would literally pick up the phone and call the minister of transport in Singapore or call the minister of the prime minister here in the UAE or whatever. And they basically knew me as someone they trusted.

Makes a massive difference.

Makes a massive difference.

Oh, yeah. It's not an unusual story, is it?

Oh, yeah. It's not an unusual story, is it?

Yeah. I was completely miserable. I was clinically depressed. And there is a difference between Being unhappy because you can't make ends meet and being unhappy when you can just pour money on anything. Fancy cars, beautiful home. I had two wonderful kids, the dream of anyone. My beautiful, loving wife. I could go anywhere on vacation anytime I wanted, first class or business class.

Yeah. I was completely miserable. I was clinically depressed. And there is a difference between Being unhappy because you can't make ends meet and being unhappy when you can just pour money on anything. Fancy cars, beautiful home. I had two wonderful kids, the dream of anyone. My beautiful, loving wife. I could go anywhere on vacation anytime I wanted, first class or business class.

I could buy fancy suits, fancy cars, anything. And I was clinically depressed.

I could buy fancy suits, fancy cars, anything. And I was clinically depressed.

I was the happiest person ever until, believe it or not, I decided, and I remember the moments vividly. I remember when my son Ali was born and I'm like, oh my God, I love you, right? And I was literally, this thing is never gonna need anything ever. And I went mad working. And when Aya was due my daughter, which is life itself, Aya is the sunshine of this world.

I was the happiest person ever until, believe it or not, I decided, and I remember the moments vividly. I remember when my son Ali was born and I'm like, oh my God, I love you, right? And I was literally, this thing is never gonna need anything ever. And I went mad working. And when Aya was due my daughter, which is life itself, Aya is the sunshine of this world.

when she was supposed to get into kindergarten and we could get Ali into a beautiful one, but we couldn't afford to get Aya there. I remember vividly, I walked into my boss's office in IBM and I said, look, you're paying me 680. I need 740 because I have to get my daughter into the same kindergarten. And he said, that's not how it works in IBM. You know, there is committees and promotions.

when she was supposed to get into kindergarten and we could get Ali into a beautiful one, but we couldn't afford to get Aya there. I remember vividly, I walked into my boss's office in IBM and I said, look, you're paying me 680. I need 740 because I have to get my daughter into the same kindergarten. And he said, that's not how it works in IBM. You know, there is committees and promotions.

And I was like, okay, then I'm going to resign. I'm going to leave in four months and I'm going to find another job. And From then, I just money, money, money, money, things, things, things, things. And you know how it is. You succeed, you create a lifestyle for your family that becomes normalized, and then you now have to succeed more and create a higher lifestyle.