Larry Brilliant, M.D., Former CEO of Google.org
Today, my guest is Larry Brilliant, a physician and epidemiologist, a member of the TED community, CEO of Pandefense Advisory and Chair of the Advisory Board of the NGO Ending Pandemics. He is a senior advisor to Jeff Skoll and serves on the board of the Skoll Foundation. Previously, he was president and CEO of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, vice president of Google and the founding executive director of Google.org. He also cofounded the Seva Foundation, an NGO whose programs have given sight back to more than five million blind people in two dozen countries. He also cofounded The Well, a progenitor of today’s social media platforms.
Earlier in his career, Brilliant was a professor of epidemiology and international health planning at the University of Michigan. Larry has engaged with some of the most prominent thought leaders, spiritual masters, heroes, and icons in the world, including Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), Martin Luther King, Jr., Steve Jobs, Mikhail Gorbachev, Wavy Gravy, the Grateful Dead, the Dalai Lama, and Barack Obama. His life’s journey across continents has resulted in the direct involvement of some of the most significant medical, spiritual, and social achievements of the past century: the eradication of smallpox in India, curing blindness in over 4 million people, introducing the teachings of the Maharajji to the Woodstock Generation and launching Google’s philanthropic enterprises.
In this candid conversation, Larry shared the real stories behind his unexpected encounters with historical figures, his unique medical journey, and his accidental path to leading Google.org.
1. Bending the Arc with MLK. Larry revealed that during a deep bout of depression in college following his father’s death, he attended a sparsely populated talk by Martin Luther King Jr. MLK’s message—that the arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend toward justice on its own, but requires people to physically get up, grab it, and twist it—snapped Larry out of his depression and inspired a lifelong commitment to activism and civil rights.
2. Alcatraz to Kathmandu. While working as an intern, Larry volunteered to be the only doctor on Alcatraz during the Native American occupation to help a woman deliver her baby. Following a dramatic, televised medical evacuation from the island where he was covered in blood, he was suddenly recruited by Warner Brothers to act as the doctor on a massive hippie bus caravan traveling from California to Kathmandu, where he also met his lifelong best friend, Wavy Gravy.
3. Steve Jobs and a Green Salad. Larry’s close friendship with Steve Jobs began in India after they both spent time at the same spiritual ashram. Jobs initially sought out Larry at his World Health Organization office in New Delhi simply because he wanted a green salad and to sit in the air conditioning. Years later, Jobs provided the crucial initial funding to help Larry launch the Seva Foundation, an organization that has since restored sight to over five million blind people.
4. An Unexpected Path to Google. Following the devastating Indonesian tsunami, Larry volunteered in refugee camps and learned about the massive threat of a potential bird flu pandemic. After winning the TED Prize for his wish to stop the next pandemic, he gave a presentation at Google to raise funds. Unbeknownst to him, Google’s founders were in the audience, and the very next day, Sheryl Sandberg called to offer him the role of VP and the inaugural head of Google.org to manage a $2 billion philanthropic fund.
