The character arc of Mo Gawdat
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 20 June 1967 in Egypt. Between then and now sit a civil engineering degree at Ain Shams University in 1990, an MBA at Maastricht, Google from 2007, the post of chief business officer at Google X, the death of his son Ali in 2014, Solve for Happy in 2017, Scary Smart in 2021 and Unstressable in 2024. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Mo Gawdat?
He solved for happiness the way an engineer would.
He took a degree in civil engineering at Ain Shams University in Cairo in 1990 and an MBA at the Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands. He worked across the technology industry and joined Google in 2007, eventually becoming chief business officer at Google X, the company's research division, which is about as senior as an engineer's career gets.
In 2014 his son Ali died during a routine operation. He has told this himself, many times and in public, as the reason the rest of the line exists. What he did afterwards was characteristic of the training: he treated happiness as a problem with an equation rather than as a mood, and wrote down what he found.
Solve for Happy, published in 2017, is the result. Its argument is that happiness is what remains when expectation stops exceeding what is actually happening, and that this is testable rather than mystical. Scary Smart came in 2021, on artificial intelligence and what the people building it owe everybody else, written by somebody who was in the room. That Little Voice in Your Head followed in 2022 and Unstressable, with Alice Law, in 2024. He is now among the most listened to voices on both subjects, which is an unusual pair to be known for.
The moments
Mo Gawdat's timeline.
The 1990s
Engineering at Ain Shams
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A civil engineering degree in Cairo, which is where the method comes from.
An MBA at Maastricht
Milestone. A second qualification, and a second country.
The 2000s
He joined Google
Milestone, and it changed everything. Into Google at forty, from an engineering career built outside Silicon Valley.
The 2010s
Chief business officer
Milestone, and it changed everything. About as senior as an engineer's career gets.
His son Ali died
Setback, and it changed everything. He has told this himself, many times. Everything after it on this line follows from it.
Grieve privately, or write it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: write the book, taken, or keep it private. Solve for Happy reached readers worldwide, and three further books followed it.
Solve for Happy
Milestone, and it changed everything. Happiness treated as a problem with an equation rather than as a mood.
The 2020s
Scary Smart
Milestone, and it changed everything. A warning about artificial intelligence, written by somebody who was in the room.
That Little Voice
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The same engineering metaphor, applied to thought itself.
Unstressable
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A fourth book, written with a co-author, on the everyday version of the problem.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a way of thinking about happiness that an engineer can actually hold on to, written by somebody who had every reason to stop.
What he wrote
Books by Mo Gawdat
- 2017
Solve for Happy
Engineer your path to joy. Happiness as what remains when expectation stops exceeding what is actually happening.
- 2021
Scary Smart
The future of artificial intelligence, and what the people building it owe everybody else. Written by somebody who was in the room.
- 2022
That Little Voice in Your Head
The engineering metaphor applied to thought itself.
- 2024
Unstressable
Written with Alice Law, on the everyday version of the same problem.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His took the worst year of a life and made something other people could use. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Mo Gawdat: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Mo Gawdat's character arc?
What is Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat?
Did Mo Gawdat work at Google?
What is Scary Smart by Mo Gawdat?
Where is Mo Gawdat from?
Why did Mo Gawdat write about happiness?
What books has Mo Gawdat written?
Where does this timeline of Mo Gawdat's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Mo Gawdat, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- His own public accounts of the death of his son Ali in 2014, given in interviews and in Solve for Happy.
- Publisher records for Solve for Happy, Scary Smart, That Little Voice in Your Head and Unstressable.