Dr. Michael Gervais
Dr. Michael Gervais is a high-performance psychologist, national bestselling author, and one of the world’s leading experts on the relationship between the mind and human performance. Over the course of a 20-year career working with world class performers and organizations, Dr. Gervais has developed a framework for the mental skills and practices that allow organizations, teams and individuals to thrive in pressure-packed environments.
Gervais’ influence can be felt across many touchpoints of popular culture. His clients include the NFL’s Super Bowl Champions, Seattle Seahawks, world record holders, Olympians, MVPs from every major sport, internationally acclaimed music artists, and Fortune 50 CEO’s.
Gervais has worked across three summer Olympic Games (Tokyo, Rio, London) and two winter Olympic Games as a high-performance psychologist supporting Team USA, most recently for USA Surfing in Tokyo 2021.
Dr. Gervais is the host of the Finding Mastery podcast that explores the psychology of the world’s most extraordinary thinkers and doers. In the top 1% of podcasts globally, Finding Mastery crossed the 25 million downloads milestone in 2021.
Gervais has a new book, The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying About What People Think of You, published by Harvard Business Review Press in November 2023. Previously, Gervais wrote an Audible Original, Compete to Create: An Approach to Living and Leading Authentically, with NFL coach Pete Carroll (2020).
Gervais created a six-week online course, Finding Your Best, to bring the principles and practices of high performance psychology and wellbeing into businesses and homes.
Gervais is the co-creator of the Performance Science Institute at the USC Marshall School of Business, dedicated to teaching, training and researching the science, applied principles and best practices for high performance in any domain .
A published, peer-reviewed author and nationally recognized speaker on optimal human performance, Dr. Gervais has been featured in premier media outlets including NBC, ABC, FOX, CNN, ESPN, NFL Network, Red Bull TV, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Outside Magazine, WIRED, Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine.
Dr. Gervais holds a doctorate degree in psychology, specializing in sport performance, and a master’s degree in kinesiology. He completed his PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Bruce Ogilvie, often referred to as the father of American applied sport psychology.