Who Is Matt Brittin? | What We Don't Know

Welcome to What We Don't Know with Matt Brittin & Hayaatun Sillem. The show about better leadership in a truly chaotic world. Across the series, episodes are hosted by Matt and Hayaatun as well as a range of other leading figures, bringing different perspectives to each conversation. Subscribe to not miss an episode! ▶️ ⚡️ Powered by Boxlight.io https://www.boxlight.io/ Today we meet our co-host, Matt Brittin! After 18 years at Google - including a decade running Europe, the Middle East and Africa — Matt Brittin has stepped away from one of the most powerful roles in global tech. In this first episode of What We Don’t Know, hosts Hayaatun Sillem and Matt turn the lens inward - unpacking what happens when high-performance leadership stops, and what comes next. Matt opens up about his “midlife gap year,” life after intensity, and learning to be present again following the loss of his father. From a disruptive childhood to rowing for Great Britain — and a very public defeat in the Cambridge Boat Race — he reflects on the moments that shaped how he builds teams and leads under pressure. They also go deep on what really drove Google’s success: hiring at scale, building diverse teams, setting ruthless clarity of priorities, and the simple principle - put the best people on the most important problems, then get out of the way. Plus: navigating public scrutiny on tax, YouTube extremism, and what leadership looks like when you have to say “we got this wrong” — and fix it. This is a conversation about leadership after the job title — and why the most important lessons often come from what we don’t know. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:33 What We Don’t Know 02:14 Meet Matt Today 02:40 Midlife Gap Year 04:52 Family Time and AI 07:29 What He Misses 09:02 Pottery and Reset 10:28 Growing Up Britain 12:05 Bored at School 13:22 Rowing Changes Everything 15:13 Teamwork Lessons 19:02 Failure and Turnaround 23:52 From Sport to Business 27:32 Why Google Won 28:57 Day One at Google 30:38 Scaling and Hiring 33:21 Culture of Help 33:59 Hiring for Scale 35:07 Fixing Hiring Bias 37:04 Becoming Public Spokesperson 39:44 Stories Backed by Data 41:17 Crisis Comms on YouTube 45:14 Select Committees Pressure 46:54 Leadership Lessons Learned 48:37 Big Tech Backlash 51:06 Next Chapter Purpose 52:39 Resilience and Energy 55:09 Why This Podcast 01:01:57 Making Podcasts Work 01:06:55 Rapid Fire Wrap 01:11:32 Closing and Thanks Follow Matt and Hayaatun below 👇 https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayaatun/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-brittin-cbe-5aa6391/ Credits: Producer: Sunny Winter Producer: Thuy Dong Producer: Jimmy McLoughlin OBE Post Producer: Ben Alexander Kippen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices