40 Minute Mentor podcast launches new season with Mo Gawdat

A new season of the 40 Minute Mentor podcast, which celebrates the career advice from some of the most influential leaders, launches on Wednesday (24 March).

Hosted by James Mitra, CEO of JBM 40 Minute Mentor returns with the mission of making business mentorship accessible to everyone.

Whether you’re just beginning your career or you’re looking for advice in taking the leap and starting a new venture, this showis designed to cover everything from the ground up in 40 minutes.

In the special launch episode, 40 Minute Mentor welcomes Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer at Google X, founder of the ‘one billion happy movement’, and host of Slo Mo podcast.

Following the tragic death of his son Ali, Mo shares how he grasped the true meaning of happiness: “Two years into my career at Google X, I sadly lost my wonderful son. Ali was everything to me, he was my son, my best friend, and my coach in many ways. After he left, I found myself in a moment of truth – I had to make a choice. Do I hit my head against the wall for 27 years? Or do I try to do something with this? I knew it was important for me to document what he taught me, what we developed together. I wrote non-stop, and created a book about the topic of happiness – with the hope of spreading Ali’s message to the world.”

Explaining why he left a high powered, well paid career at Google X, Mo discusses the value of instinct-based decision making: “Six weeks into the launch of the book, my message became viral, and reached 110 million people. When this happened, I found myself questioning if I should continue to create more artificial intelligence, robotics and technology, or is there something more important? And so I made the decision to leave, and one billion happy became a reality.”

As a humble, successful, and inspiring individual, Mo shares what advice he would give to young people, who desire to strive in their field: “I would say there are three things that have really determined where I’ve gotten to in life. One, I worked with life, not against life.

“Two, I actually believed that life is a video game – there’s no point playing if you’re not having fun. Three, enjoy the process, don’t rush to the finish line.”

Other guests in the new season include Brett Wigdortz – founder and honorary president of Teach First, Rachel Carrell – founder and CEO of Koru Kids, Juliet Davenport – founder of Good Energy, Alice Bentinck – co-founder of Entrepreneur First, Grace Beverley – founder of Shreddy and Tala and Gary Stewart – founder & CEO of FounderTribes.

40 Minute Mentor is available on Apple, Spotify, Soundcloud, and all major podcast platforms.