Ashley Merryman changes the world's dialogue. She finds the science essential to understanding what makes people tick—what motivates us, what inspires us—from individual quirks to institutional phenomena. Then she explains how to use these insights to transform our lives.
She explains how character affects leadership and achievement. How organizations set individuals and institutions up for success. She teaches people how to be at their best. Even when things are at their worst.
Merryman’s taught Olympians and professional athletes how to better perform under pressure. She’s advised Fortune 100 executives on building a winning culture; she’s coached military leaders on institutional change. Laws have been written, organizations formed and transformed, conferences established on the basis of her work.
Her book NurtureShock, co-authored with Po Bronson, has become one of the most influential books about children ever published. On the New York Times bestseller list for more than six months and an Amazon Top Nonfiction 100 book for over a year, it has been translated into 20 languages.
Their follow-up, Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, was another instant New York Times bestseller with foreign translations around the world. Since its publication, Top Dog has revolutionized the world of elite performance. Coaches of professional sports carry it in their bags. Olympians have described themselves as “Top Dog athletes.”
In 2018, Merryman was asked to serve at the Pentagon for a one-year term (with a civilian rank equivalent to rear admiral) as the Special Advisor on Diversity and Inclusion for the Chief of Naval Operations, the four-star admiral who serves as the military leader of the United States Navy. In 2020, she then served as Special Advisor for the Department of the Navy’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. While in these roles, Merryman created The Watch List, a new intervention for the prevention of military sexual assault now used by the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.
In 2022, Merryman founded The Sherwood Group, LLC. The Sherwood Group’s mission is to use new, science-based tools to help leaders become better leaders —with a special emphasis on how they can end the toxic behaviors in organizations that lead to destructive outcomes.
During the 2022-2023 academic year, Merryman served as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow for the Joint Special Operations University.
In addition to cover stories and more for Newsweek and New York, Merryman has had bylines in the New York Times, Time, the Washington Post, CNN.com, US News & World Report, the Guardian, ESPN Magazine, and others. Her media appearances include: CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360; Fox and Friends; CBS This Morning; @KatieCouric; John Stossel; ESPN’s Outside the Lines; HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel; Red Bull’s Visions of Greatness; BBC’s World News and Sports Hour; and NPR's On Point. She is also a contributor to Chronicle Books’ bestselling 642 Things to Write About. (And she once delighted “Mr. Wonderful” Kevin O'Leary with an on-air explanation of how science could predict his success, while Stephen Colbert devoted a segment of The Colbert Report to her take on kids and competition.)
Among the honors Merryman has received: She was presented with a Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the United States Navy. She has been a Poynter Fellow for Journalism at Yale University and a William J. Clinton Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Arkansas's Clinton School of Public Service. She has received 11 awards for her writing including the PEN Center USA Literary Award, AAAS Award for Science Journalism, an “Audie,” and two Clarions. And her mastery of the science is considered so authoritative that her work’s been cited in more than 1,160 books and journal articles to date.
Merryman has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University.
“Ashley Merryman’s combination of insight and empathy is unique. She has so much to give in the area most important to our lives, whether it’s a high-performance career or a solid family.
I love her books and still reference them often. ‘Top Dog’ in particular had a huge impact on my coaching during a critical time.
I think the world of Ashley, and you will as well.”
“Ashley combines intellectual rigor, deep scientific knowledge and unbridled energy into a presentation that blows away the typical ‘talk.’ Audiences always walk out with something they’re eager to share with colleagues, friends and family alike. Her messages are both profound and actionable in our collective quest to ‘be better.’”