Author

Co-authored by Nathan Ott and Dr John Mervyn-Smith, The Psychology and Dynamics of Human Energy explores how human energy drives behaviour, decision-making and performance in the workplace. The book moves beyond traditional personality and competency models to focus on how energy is directed towards impact, both individually and collectively.

Grounded in psychological research and extensive practical application, the book introduces a new way of understanding contribution at work. It examines why people can perform differently in different contexts, how energy shifts under pressure, and how leaders and teams can create environments where people are able to do their best work.

Written for leaders, practitioners, coaches and educators, the book bridges theory and practice, offering insight that is immediately applicable in organisational settings.

Coaching Me, Coaching You and Ahaa! were co-authored by Nathan Ott and Dr John Mervyn-Smith to support deeper self-awareness, reflection and development through coaching. These books focus on how individuals understand themselves, respond to challenge and gain insight into their own patterns of thinking and behaviour.

Rather than offering prescriptive models, the books encourage curiosity, reflection and dialogue. They explore the moments of realisation that lead to meaningful change, helping readers recognise how insight can shift perspective and unlock growth.

Widely used by coaches, leaders and development practitioners, these works support both personal and professional development. They emphasise the importance of awareness in effective coaching relationships and provide practical tools and language that can be applied in one-to-one coaching, leadership development and learning environments.

The DNA of a Game Changer (2015) was the culmination of joint research led by Nathan Ott and Dr John Mervyn-Smith, which began in 2012. The research set out to explore whether there were individuals within organisations who were fundamentally different from traditional leaders and high-potential talent, and if so, what defined them.

Through applied research and organisational work, Nathan and John observed individuals who consistently created disproportionate impact without fitting established leadership models. These individuals were not defined by hierarchy, role or conventional indicators of potential, yet their influence and contribution were clear. This prompted a focused investigation into whether such individuals existed across organisations and what distinguished them.

The research identified a distinct group, later termed Game Changers, whose impact was driven not by personality or position, but by how they directed their energy towards meaningful outcomes. The book articulates these differences, reframing leadership and performance away from status and towards contribution.

The DNA of a Game Changer challenged prevailing assumptions about talent and leadership, offering a more inclusive and practical understanding of impact. It provided organisations with a new lens for recognising and enabling individuals who drive change, and laid the conceptual foundations for later work on energy and impact.

Following the publication of The DNA of a Game Changer, further research and organisational application revealed a critical insight: the idea of the hero Game Changer acting alone was largely a myth. While individual creativity and insight matter, sustained game-changing impact is created through teams.

The DNA of a Game-Changing Team (2016), co-authored by Nathan Ott and Dr John Mervyn-Smith, extended the research from individuals to the collective. The book explores how teams combine different forms of energy to move ideas forward, deliver outcomes and sustain momentum over time.

The research demonstrated that high-performing teams are not simply collections of high performers. Instead, game-changing teams succeed through diversity of contribution, clarity of purpose and the deliberate deployment of energy across different stages of work. Constructive tension, difference and complementary strengths were shown to be critical to impact.

This work shifted the focus from individual brilliance to collective effectiveness and directly informed the development of The GC Index, launched in 2017. The book remains central to Nathan’s thinking on team dynamics, leadership and how organisations create meaningful, sustainable impact.