Greg Merrill: Leading with Authenticity, Showing Courage and Vulnerability

Greg Merrill’s career spans health, sustainability, corporate innovation, and strategic advising. During our conversation, he emphasized authenticity and courage as leadership essentials. His commitment to leaving a better world for his three daughters, grounds both his personal and professional choices.

Greg’s journey has meaningfully woven together diverse industries and roles, from co-founding sustainability-focused companies to leading innovation and corporate development at Nike. Today, he advises small to mid-size companies and serves on boards, helping leaders navigate growth and transformation with integrity.

Throughout his career, Greg witnessed how fear-driven cultures diminish human potential. Rather than conform, he chose to lead differently, creating space for vulnerability, celebrating wins openly, and rallying teams through authenticity. Though his approach often set him apart, it consistently resulted in stronger loyalty, better execution, and accelerated organizational success.

Greg brings up asking questions about how we see the connectivity between strength and kindness and how we define strength in the workplace. He talks about vulnerability being a strength and a superpower. While he believes many people disagree, he sees it as folding into trust, respect, authenticity, kindness, and inclusivity. These are attributes that define strength in the workplace.

Greg views investing in kindness not only as a personal value but also as a strategic advantage and sees it as an active practice. In evaluating startups and leadership teams, he prioritizes authenticity, resilience, and the ability to build and maintain trust. While kindness is a powerful leadership tool, he emphasizes that rudeness or disrespect is a clear disqualifier for investment.

At the core of Greg’s drive is a vision for the future: shaping a world where his daughters will face different challenges than those of today and instead, they will have the opportunity to tackle the hard problems, like climate change and mental health.

Greg Merrill’s story emphasizes that kindness in leadership is not about being agreeable; it is about leading with courage, authenticity, and a commitment to something greater than oneself. He shares that one of their family values is "stay hungry and humble." "I want to be part of that solution," he says. He wants his daughters to say with pride, "let me tell you about my dad and what he did."

“Kindness is like love—it’s a verb, it is a commitment to live life in a certain way.”

Greg Merrill is a strategic advisor and board member dedicated to building a better future by leading with courage, authenticity, and kindness. Keep an eye out for more interviews.