October 17, 2025 • 28 mins
Want to grow your small business while making a real impact? In Season 6 Episode 31: What is Steward Leadership | Stewardship leadership style we are joined by David Grau Sr., global author and stewardship expert, as he shares game-changing stewardship leadership strategies to elevate your team, community, and business success in 2025! Discover why steward leadership isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the key to sustainable growth and lasting legacy.
In this video, you’ll learn:
1. What is steward leadership? The core principles to lead with purpose.
2. Stewardship leadership style tips to inspire your team and community.
3. What are the four elements of stewardship? Practical steps to apply today.
4. Steward leadership examples from real-world success stories.
5. What are the three types of stewardship? How they transform your business.
6. Is stewardship the same as management? Key differences explained. How the four pillars of righteousness align with stewardship for ethical leadership.
7. What is stewardship in servant leadership? Build trust and loyalty effortlessly.
Why watch?
Learn actionable tips to apply the four elements of stewardship and three types of stewardship to grow your small business while making a difference. Whether you’re curious about stewardship in servant leadership or want to master steward leadership examples, this video is your guide to success! Like, comment, and subscribe for more small business and leadership tips! Tell us in the comments: How will you apply stewardship in your business?
Connect with David Grau Sr. @davidgrausr
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Stewardship-Advantage-Profitable-Principled-Business/dp/B0FMGQ5LCF
Connect with Tim:
Website: timstatingtheobvious.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/timstatingtheobvious
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHfDcITKUdniO8R3RP0lvdw
Instagram: @TimStating Tiktok: @timstatingtheobvious
00:00 – Intro: Meet David Grau Sr., Stewardship Expert
01:43 – From Micro Niche to Global Author: David’s Journey
05:04 – What is Steward Leadership? Defining Business Stewardship
09:28 – Community Stewardship: Real-World Impact
12:44 – Building Stewardship Leadership Style for Your Team
17:07 – Plan with Purpose: Businesses Built for the Future
21:30 – The Power of Stewardship Leadership in 2025
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tim Staton (00:02):
This is Tim Staton with Tim stating the obvious.
What is this podcast about? It's simple.
You are entitled to great leadership.
Everywhere you go, whether it's to church, whether it's to work, whether it's at your house,
you are entitled to great leadership.
And so in this podcast we take leadership principles and theories and turn them into everyday,
(00:23):
relatable and usable advice and a quick disclaimer.
Disclaimer. (00:26):
This show process or service by trademark, trademark, manufacturer, otherwise does not necessarily
constitute an apply the endorsement of anyone that.
Tim Staton (00:30):
I employed by or favors them in representation.
David Grau Sr. (00:32):
The views are expressed here in my.
Tim Staton (00:33):
Show, are my own expressed and do not necessarily state or reflect those of any employer.
Hey and welcome back to another episode.
I'm really excited about our next guest.
His name is David Grau Sr.
And he goes by J.D. he's an accomplished author and speaker. David Sr.
Has authored five non fiction books on stewardship, ownership, ownership transition and business management.
(00:54):
He was named one of Investment News 2017 Icons and Innovators.
A sought after speaker and prolific writer, he has delivered over 1000 presentations across
48 states and written dozens of nationally published columns and white papers.
David has a unique skill set in his background in business perpetuation, securities regulation,
(01:17):
business taxation and law to support business owners legacy building efforts.
As the author of a preeminent book on global business stewardship, David Sr.
Is helping to marshal the legions of small business owners to serve all their stakeholders and
to change the world in the process.
Today David continues his work as an author and advocate for building sustainable businesses.
(01:42):
So David, welcome to the show.
David Grau Sr. (01:44):
Thank you Tim. It's a pleasure to be here and to get to know you two.
Tim Staton (01:47):
So David, I know we just read your bio, I wondered, could you just tell us a little bit more about yourself?
David Grau Sr. (01:52):
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. So I recently retired.
So I when I was in my early 40s, I started a business designed to help professional financial
advisors here in the United States.
And then it kind of spread up to Canada.
And I love that job.
(02:13):
You know, coming off my securities background and my securities law degree, I could have done it forever.
And I did do it for 25 years, which kind of seemed like forever.
But then I took part in my company's succession plan, which is what we taught.
I helped to design it, we built it, we executed it and I retired.
And I've been retired now for one year and two days.
(02:35):
And so in the first year, in two days, I went back to my roots and I as I mentioned, you know,
as we were talking before the interview started, you know When I graduated from high school
a long time ago, I was voted most likely to become a professional author.
And I never forgot that.
I always thought, well, I need to aspire to that.
And so once I retired and I had lots of time, I sat down and I had lots of things to say, and I wrote three books.
(03:02):
I literally sat down every single day, seven days a week for about a year. And. And I just.
I wrote them all out.
I used AI for research, but I didn't write a word on my books. Honestly.
You know, I published about 75,000 words per book.
I wrote probably close to a million words per book.
And so it's like, you know, people say, well, the best parts of the movie are on the cutting room floor.
(03:25):
Yeah, it was kind of like that.
So I sat down and wrote these three books, and they.
And they form kind of a trilogy. So.
But here's the big difference, and I'll finish this up in 60 seconds.
For 25 years, I worked and kind of applied my skills in what I would call a micro niche.
Independent financial advisors, people like Northwestern Mutual, Charles Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade.
(03:50):
Once I retired, I thought, okay, the things that I know and the things that I can teach and
the things that I love to do really aren't limited by boundaries or professions. They.
If you're a small business owner, I know things that you need to know and think about in the course of your career.
So it was like just, you know, the parting of the Red Sea. All of a sudden.
(04:13):
I had half a billion small business owners as my audience in every country on every inhabited continent on the planet.
And I felt so free that writing three books in 12 months, it was just an absolute pleasure.
And as each book wrapped up and came to a close, I felt like I lost a loved one.
(04:34):
You know, it was just part of my life, and I'm so proud of them.
But now starts the job of telling the world that the writings are out there.
And if you're a small business owner who wants to make a real difference with your work and
your life, I've got something to share with you.
So, Tim, thank you for giving me the opportunity to say that.
Tim Staton (04:54):
Absolutely. And I love what you bring to the table because, like the show, everything's about practicality.
And what you're bringing together to the table also is practicality.
So let's talk about your new book about stewardship and the importance of stewardship.
So can you define what stewardship is to you?
And then how does that apply to the small Business.
David Grau Sr. (05:16):
Yeah. Thank. Thank you. And again, it took me decades to figure out the answer.
But, but then I, when I was ready, I, I wrote the book called the Stewardship Advantage.
It's basically about how to build principled and purpose small business that if you want to, can change the world.
Okay, that's 30,000 foot answer. Let's get more specific.
(05:38):
Oddly enough, I'm going to start this with what it is and then I get directly into what it is.
So a lot of folks, and Amazon's bookshelves in general tend to look at stewardship in kind of a.
A religious or a biblical concept. That's not my book.
My book is written specifically to small business owners.
It doesn't matter what you believe.
(05:59):
It doesn't matter what political ideology you live under or work under.
If you run and own a small business, you're my kind of person.
That is who I wrote the book for.
So it's politically and religiously agnostic.
That said, where you get your motivation. Fine by me.
The idea of stewardship, and to answer your question more directly now, is stewardship is marshaling
(06:22):
your resources for the future and for the lives you touch.
And so one more thing, people go, well, that's the environment.
I need to recycle more.
I need to do that.
Yes, we probably all do.
That's again, not what stewardship is.
Stewardship in my book, as I defined it, is taking great care and delivering great value to
(06:43):
the people around you who I specifically call your stakeholders.
Most small business owners, whether you're one person, I call it a force of one, or you run
a business like I used to, you know, with six or seven owners and 70 employees.
Stewardship says you got about eight stakeholders you need to think real carefully about and
(07:04):
in no particular order, your employee or employees.
That's one stakeholder or stakeholder group.
A second one is your business itself, often structured as an entity, because theoretically an
entity, unlike us mortals, an entity, entity could live forever if you help it.
But in addition to that, you've got your fellow partners now and hopefully in the future.
(07:26):
Because businesses don't last forever with one owner.
And then you've got your officers, your directors, people who may be leaders in your business,
but not necessarily the stockholder.
That's what I call the internal group of stakeholders.
Those are the people you see every day when you go into the office. External group of stakeholders.
I would lead off with your community.
(07:47):
You walk outside that door, people you meet, the customers that walk in your door.
When you go to your son or daughter's soccer game or baseball game or, you know, little league game on a weekend.
All the people that you see and touch, that's your community.
That is a really important stakeholder, external to the business. External.
But it makes a difference every day.
Another one, of course, is the environment in general.
(08:09):
My book isn't about climate change, but if we don't hand the world off in as good a shape or
better than we found it, then I don't think we're doing a very good job with the work that we do.
But in addition to that, you got your suppliers or your supply chain got to look after those
people because, you know, when times get tough, you're going to expect them to look after you.
(08:29):
And so just, just in, in a general sense, those are your, your stakeholders.
And stewardship is taking great care and delivering great value to all of your stakeholders.
Not on day one, but over the course of time.
I'll just, I'll wrap this up in a simple sentence. Stewardship is.
Stewardship says that if you take great care of your stakeholders and you help to make them
(08:54):
better, they will make you better.
And I believe that with all my heart.
And that's what I wrote my book about.
And again, that's not religious or biblical or political.
It can be if you want it to be, but that's just using your business to do good.
And boy, when you watch the news nowadays, is there any more important message?
Tim Staton (09:13):
No, absolutely. You hit the nail on the head and it's been ingrained in me, my career, that
you always leave the place better than when you left it, than you found it.
And that's a great point that you bring up.
So let's talk about stewardship in this way.
When it comes to the community, how important is that to your business and what does that look like?
David Grau Sr. (09:37):
Well, let's start with the people who walk in your front door every morning.
As a small business owner, your clients and your customers are certainly a stakeholder.
But for the most part, we live and work in the communities where we're at.
And so looking after your clients, your customers, your community, I think it starts every morning
when you turn the lights on.
How can you make your community better?
(10:00):
A short answer is give back.
So what does that mean?
Well, it doesn't have any one particular meaning.
And sometimes that's why when people go in search of stewardship, they get lost.
In my book, I give you a couple dozen good ideas about what you can do for your community, but
I think the clearest, simplest way to say it is if we start to help your community, get your
(10:23):
business, get your own house in order.
So sit down and write out your mission statement. What are your purpose?
What's your purpose in the work that you do?
What principles do you stand for?
If you could write out a 20, 30 word mission, vision, purpose statement, share with every new
employee that comes in to apply for a job, you say, this is who we are.
(10:49):
This is what I stand for.
Do you want to work for a company that believes in this?
Because people can't follow a leader who doesn't know where they're going?
So write it down based on your mission, vision, purpose statement, principles.
You hold, the work you do, size of your community.
You could be on a street corner in Manhattan, you could be on the street corner in a town of 800.
(11:11):
But based on your goals and missions, how?
Turn around and say to yourself, what could I do in my community to further my purposes and
my principles through the work that I do every single day?
And as you know, small business owners don't work Monday through Friday, 8 to 5.
These are hard working, dedicated individuals.
(11:33):
You know, if you're not in that office, you're thinking about it 24, 7.
Align your purposes and principles with, with your community's needs, the opportunities, and enjoy it. This isn't charity.
Don't go around handing out money on the street corners.
What other ways could you help make a difference?
When you start to look, it makes all the difference in the world.
(11:56):
Again, you make that stakeholder in your community better, they'll make you better.
It's a long winded answer, but thank you for letting me say it.
Tim Staton (12:04):
Absolutely. And, and I'm thinking about the businesses, the larger businesses that, that do that really well.
And I live in a state where small business is very prevalent.
And I'm reminded of even, even from the small things where, you know, people support local,
local sports, where they're like, well, you know, I believe in, in health and fitness.
(12:26):
So we're going to sponsor a little league team or we're going to sponsor, you know, a softball
team or whatever it is. And also adopting highways. Right.
I've seen businesses out there doing those things, making the community better and trying to make the environment better.
And you have great points on that.
So let's talk about then on the internal side, how can we be better at developing the internal capacity of stewardship?
David Grau Sr. (12:53):
Yeah. And thank you. Because, you know, in my book, I divide the stakeholders into two groups,
the internal group and the external group.
And the first thing I said was, you know, before you can really add on stakeholders 5, 6, 7 and 8.
You got to get 1 through 4, right?
Because as a sole proprietorship or you know, a single owner small business, there's a lot of
(13:15):
things you gotta get done every single day.
So if you want to take great care of your community and your customers, you need to probably
be more than a force of one.
So where do you start the first employee you hire and are they going to be perfect?
Well that's a work in progress, right?
So help them become better.
(13:35):
So maybe they're 23 years old and it's their first job out of college, maybe they're 42 years
old and they just retired from the army.
Wherever they're starting, how do you help them get better?
And of course better at what?
Well, what's your written mission, purpose, vision and principles you stand for?
What do you want to do better for the people around you?
(13:56):
So maybe like in my own world of financial advisors, which was a highly regulated and kind of
education focused world, maybe one of the goals is you help your key employee finish college,
or if they finish college, you help them obtain one or more professional degrees and lay out
a 10 year roadmap not for tomorrow, but every day for the next five to 10 years.
(14:21):
What can I help you do that will help you get better?
You don't have to pay for the education, but maybe if you give them one Friday off a month for
study time, maybe if you go out and hire a tutor or maybe if you pay for their books.
You know, another thing is, you know, I'm not really, I don't come right out and say, you know,
I believe in, you know, paying everyone a living wage.
(14:43):
I think that's an owner in communities decision.
But at the same time taking care of the little things.
I, I had a key employee, she was fairly young, you know, you know, seven or eight years out
of high school, but just off a divorce.
Two young children at home didn't have any support from, from the ex husband.
And so one of the first things I did 25 years ago went out and I bought her whole life policy
(15:10):
and I made the premium payments.
And it's just amazing how much those things grow in value over 25 years.
But if something had happened to her along the way, this would take care of her children.
And you know, I know it made her feel better, but it made me feel better too.
And that's one of those things she just learned.
Okay, I want that to be one of my purposes and principles and values in life.
(15:31):
Pay people what you can afford to pay them, you know, at the end of the month, after a tough
month, get their whole family movie tickets or a ticket to the local minor league baseball game.
You know, that gift certificate for some snacks and popcorns and things.
Those little things done regularly just make a world of difference. That's what stewardship is.
People say, you know, it's charity. No, not really. That's.
(15:54):
That's not at all the point.
And we're not talking about giveaways.
We're talking about motivational thoughts that make honestly the giver feel as good. It's the recipient.
And then little by little, you do that for all your employees.
And then one last thing.
The only way I was able to retire and use the succession plans that I wrote about in one of
my books, we had to hire and train and retain great next generation younger talent.
(16:19):
And I'll stress the word retain.
To become an owner of a small business, they have to buy in and they have to stay and they have
to be great at what they do.
They have to want to work there forever.
Not to overstate the case.
So how do you get an employee to that point?
I think it starts with you as the owner.
So that's the answer to the question. It's not one thing. It's lots of things.
(16:41):
And it depends on you and your goals.
But there's just so much you can do if you sit down and think it out.
And by the way, you can probably tell I'm effusive about this.
I love what I do.
And the stewardship message is it has the capacity not to overstate it.
It could change our world just by taking care of the stakeholders around you that you can touch every day.
(17:05):
I just think that's so important to do.
Tim Staton (17:07):
Absolutely. I'm a big proponent of being better tomorrow, being better today than you were yesterday, and paying that forward.
And I'm glad you have that mentality and I love that.
And you brought up a really good point about developing the next generation and having that
stewardship of your organization, of your business to like you said, it could last forever.
(17:29):
You know, the business entity could last for a long time and it could morph.
And we're coming to a point where there's a generation of people that are going into retirement
and are we doing the right things to steward in the next generation of leaders?
So I just wanted to get your perspective of that on if you think we are doing the right things
(17:50):
or what we could do better.
David Grau Sr. (17:51):
Yeah, appreciate that question. I think, I think the hard Truth is, a few of our small businesses,
if I had to put a number on it, you know, less than 10% are doing the right things.
It's not that they're avoiding doing the right things.
They don't know the mechanics of the process.
And literally the first two books I wrote in my retirement, one is called building with the end in mind.
(18:17):
And I wrote it to people my age, you know, 50s, 60s, even 70s, and said, so if you want to leave
a legacy, if you'd like to build a business that outlives you, if you'd like to build a business,
and remember we're talking about, in my case, a career with financial advisors.
These are folks who manage money literally for the next generation.
So if you want your current clients to serve your children and grandchildren, you want your
(18:42):
staff to, to serve your current clients, children and grandchildren, here's what you need to do.
Here are the mechanics, the legal, the taxes, the securities rules and regs.
And I think, I hope I made it fairly simple.
I did it in 50 rather succinct.
I call them hard hitting lessons.
They're only about four or five pages each.
You read the first half of the book, you'll know what the answer is and how to do it right.
(19:06):
But I wrote a second book then called a quote, acquiring your future.
These are for the 30 something year olds with a 20 something year old and a 40 something year
old sprinkled in who want to buy in to the business where they work.
You know, one choice is they, they simply walk out the door one day and hang out a shingle,
they can build their own business.
But another choice is, hey, if you got five or six years at the business where you're at and
(19:30):
you like it, and if you have an ownership structure that treats you well and is a good steward
to you and your fellow workers, why not buy into that ownership?
And here's how to do it.
So I wrote a book for each one of them which personally enough, I would argue, support stewardship. Right.
How can you be a great steward to your staff, your future owners, and even to your current clients,
(19:54):
children and grandchildren if you don't build something with the end in mind, something that can outlast you.
So I call it a cohesive trilogy.
You don't have to read all three, but you'd learn a lot if you did.
Tim Staton (20:07):
Absolutely. How often do people do you think, build with the end in mind?
Or do you think people build a business for the intermediate period and then at some point come
to realization of this is going to end.
What is my exit strategy and what does that look like?
David Grau Sr. (20:23):
Yeah, I think you hit it with the latter, the intermediate part, because I think for most small
business owners, the first 10 years are, you know, you're, you're battling with everything you
got just to avoid going over the falls and thinking long term is harder.
But, but that's exactly why I made the argument in my book, the Stewardship Advantage. Good steward.
(20:44):
You don't come out of the gate being a great steward of all eight stakeholder groups.
That's a bridge too far. Pick one or two.
And I think your employees and your clients and customers are probably where I'd start.
Stewardship will help you build bigger, better, faster, stronger business if you want, can outlive you.
So when's a good time to start that day one, you don't have to go out and hire people right away.
(21:06):
You don't have to go sponsor the local little league team, but you should know about those opportunities
and I think you should build your business with that in mind.
And so stewardship isn't designed for when you have time and extra money.
It's a business building process.
And, and that's the difference. Don't wait too long.
You'll learn something from every one of my books on the first day of your new venture.
(21:30):
In self employment, people do too long.
Tim Staton (21:34):
So when you're watching this right now and you're like, man, I fall into any one of those categories,
you need to go check out David Growl.
And in the description of this episode, we're going to have his YouTube, we're going to have
links to everything that you can contact him and get, get a hold of him and know where he's
talking about so you can get more details because you have a lot to offer.
(21:54):
And it's amazing because even as I'm thinking through things now, I'm like, you know, I wonder how often this happens.
And of course you've been there, so you've experienced it.
You're like, actually, it's the letter.
So if you were to offer up one thing that somebody could do today to start with stewardship,
what would be that one thing that you would say?
(22:17):
This will give you the most bang for your time, your effort, your energy.
David Grau Sr. (22:21):
Okay, I appreciate that question.
And to those listening in, I just want you to know something.
Tim doesn't give the questions out in advance.
He makes you earn this stuff and think it out.
And so my short answer I think would be, and I honestly don't mean this to be self serving,
but When I wrote my book, I started to prepare to write the Stewardship Advantage.
(22:44):
I literally picked up the phone or sent out emails to about four dozen of my friends, former
colleagues, and small business owners that I admired and trusted.
And I simply asked him a question. Don't look anything up.
Just give me a quick answer.
What does stewardship in a small business setting mean to you? And you'll understand why.
My answer is, read my book, please.
(23:05):
Because I got 48 different answers. Know.
Some admittedly said, you know, it's a religious prophecy.
Some said, no, no, it's, it's, it's this, it's that, it's, it's charity, it's taking care of
the homeless, it's fixing up the environment. There weren't wrong answers.
They were just respectfully incomplete, woefully incomplete.
And so I think stewardship is such a powerful and important tool in the hands of 500 million
(23:32):
small business owners around the planet.
It literally can help us make our world a better place.
But I don't think you can implement it effectively until you understand the mechanics, you know, what it is.
And, and I'm a bit of a technician.
And so my book has. It's not.
I hope it's not boring.
It's not a academic tome by any means, but, you know, I got fun stories in there. I called on Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
(23:57):
Hyde for part of it.
I went back to my high school French class for another part of it.
It's a fun book to read, but I think it'll surprise the typical reader who thinks they already
have an idea what stewardship is.
If I may be so bold and blunt and respectful.
You don't, but you need to. Because stewardship changes everything. Why?
(24:19):
And this is a question I force myself to ask at the start of every chapter I write and at the
end of it, why does this matter?
Why should this matter to anyone? Anyone?
And so part of the subtitle of my book is, and maybe you built a small business that can change the world. Why? Why should I care?
The world is a mess.
There's hardly enough to go around for my own family. I work hard.
(24:42):
I deserve what I get.
Why should I care about helping all those around me?
Why don't I just make as much profit and grow the business as fast as I can and then get out of Dodge?
And that's a fair question.
And in fact, I devoted an entire chapter to it.
I called it the Cold Hard Business Case.
Because you can't get to the good side of stewardship.
(25:02):
Don't go through the realities of why should I do it?
And so I make that argument. And I reached out.
I'm an English major from Purdue.
I think I was a lone English major in a sea of engineers.
But I called on Robert Louis Stevenson and Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, and I said, you know, there's some Dr.
Jekyll and Mr.— Hyde in all of us.
(25:24):
And I think there are days at the end of a long, hard week, you go get a line of credit and
you put your house on the line. Yeah.
Why should I share it?
And then I take you back to understanding what stewardship is.
We're not asking you to give away your money.
Yes, maybe your time, maybe your knowledge.
Helping make other people better doesn't mean just giving stuff away. This is not stewardship.
(25:49):
So before you dismiss the concept, I'll go back to my answer for the last question.
Spend $20 on Amazon and learn what it is that you might be dismissing.
Learn what it is that stewardship just might change.
Because I'll just be so daring as to say, if you give it a chance, it will change your business
life, but if you allow it, it'll change who you are, too.
(26:09):
It did that for me.
And so with my book, I want to pass that on.
But thank you for that question.
Tim Staton (26:14):
The more you put out there, the more you're going to get in return.
And I love how passionate you are about this, how you live this out yourself.
And you're a great example of what stewardship looks like, and you've laid it out in your books,
and you dedicated time and effort to it so everyone can check it out.
So if you're watching this, go to his stuff. Go check it out.
(26:36):
He's the real deal when he's talking about stewardship.
And not many people are really talking about true stewardship.
People are talking about doing things to get ahead here and there.
But true stewardship, you know, David Senior, he's talking about how to truly give back and
how to truly be good stewards of what you're entrusted with.
So, David, I really appreciate that you're talking about it.
(26:56):
Thank you for being on the show today and having this conversation.
Thank you so much, Tim.
David Grau Sr. (27:01):
Thank you for the opportunity.
And if I just may remind your listeners, doing good is good business. Have a good day.
Tim Staton (27:10):
As always, thank you for stopping by and checking out this episode and listening to it.
I really hope that you enjoyed it.
Before we go, I'd like to ask a favor of you if I could.
If you could please share this episode with one or two people who you think might like this topic.
If you haven't followed or subscribed on the platform that you're listening to, and hit all
the bells and icons and all the whistles so that you know that when we post another episode
(27:31):
you'll be alerted, please go ahead and do all that before you go.
If you got some value out of this episode, please leave a review or a comment so we can help
spread the show to other people who might be interested in the topics that we've talked about
here today, but may not have found our show yet.
Again, thanks for stopping by. I'm Tim Staton.
David Grau Sr. (27:47):
State in the obvious Sam.
This is Tim Staton with Tim stating the obvious.
What is this podcast about? It's simple.
You are entitled to great leadership.
Everywhere you go, whether it's to church, whether it's to work, whether it's at your house,
you are entitled to great leadership.
And so in this podcast we take leadership principles and theories and turn them into everyday,
(00:23):
relatable and usable advice and a quick disclaimer.
Disclaimer. (00:26):
This show process or service by trademark, trademark, manufacturer, otherwise does not necessarily
constitute an apply the endorsement of anyone that.
Tim Staton (00:30):
I employed by or favors them in representation.
David Grau Sr. (00:32):
The views are expressed here in my.
Tim Staton (00:33):
Show, are my own expressed and do not necessarily state or reflect those of any employer.
Hey and welcome back to another episode.
I'm really excited about our next guest.
His name is David Grau Sr.
And he goes by J.D. he's an accomplished author and speaker. David Sr.
Has authored five non fiction books on stewardship, ownership, ownership transition and business management.
(00:54):
He was named one of Investment News 2017 Icons and Innovators.
A sought after speaker and prolific writer, he has delivered over 1000 presentations across
48 states and written dozens of nationally published columns and white papers.
David has a unique skill set in his background in business perpetuation, securities regulation,
(01:17):
business taxation and law to support business owners legacy building efforts.
As the author of a preeminent book on global business stewardship, David Sr.
Is helping to marshal the legions of small business owners to serve all their stakeholders and
to change the world in the process.
Today David continues his work as an author and advocate for building sustainable businesses.
(01:42):
So David, welcome to the show.
David Grau Sr. (01:44):
Thank you Tim. It's a pleasure to be here and to get to know you two.
Tim Staton (01:47):
So David, I know we just read your bio, I wondered, could you just tell us a little bit more about yourself?
David Grau Sr. (01:52):
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. So I recently retired.
So I when I was in my early 40s, I started a business designed to help professional financial
advisors here in the United States.
And then it kind of spread up to Canada.
And I love that job.
(02:13):
You know, coming off my securities background and my securities law degree, I could have done it forever.
And I did do it for 25 years, which kind of seemed like forever.
But then I took part in my company's succession plan, which is what we taught.
I helped to design it, we built it, we executed it and I retired.
And I've been retired now for one year and two days.
(02:35):
And so in the first year, in two days, I went back to my roots and I as I mentioned, you know,
as we were talking before the interview started, you know When I graduated from high school
a long time ago, I was voted most likely to become a professional author.
And I never forgot that.
I always thought, well, I need to aspire to that.
And so once I retired and I had lots of time, I sat down and I had lots of things to say, and I wrote three books.
(03:02):
I literally sat down every single day, seven days a week for about a year. And. And I just.
I wrote them all out.
I used AI for research, but I didn't write a word on my books. Honestly.
You know, I published about 75,000 words per book.
I wrote probably close to a million words per book.
And so it's like, you know, people say, well, the best parts of the movie are on the cutting room floor.
(03:25):
Yeah, it was kind of like that.
So I sat down and wrote these three books, and they.
And they form kind of a trilogy. So.
But here's the big difference, and I'll finish this up in 60 seconds.
For 25 years, I worked and kind of applied my skills in what I would call a micro niche.
Independent financial advisors, people like Northwestern Mutual, Charles Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade.
(03:50):
Once I retired, I thought, okay, the things that I know and the things that I can teach and
the things that I love to do really aren't limited by boundaries or professions. They.
If you're a small business owner, I know things that you need to know and think about in the course of your career.
So it was like just, you know, the parting of the Red Sea. All of a sudden.
(04:13):
I had half a billion small business owners as my audience in every country on every inhabited continent on the planet.
And I felt so free that writing three books in 12 months, it was just an absolute pleasure.
And as each book wrapped up and came to a close, I felt like I lost a loved one.
(04:34):
You know, it was just part of my life, and I'm so proud of them.
But now starts the job of telling the world that the writings are out there.
And if you're a small business owner who wants to make a real difference with your work and
your life, I've got something to share with you.
So, Tim, thank you for giving me the opportunity to say that.
Tim Staton (04:54):
Absolutely. And I love what you bring to the table because, like the show, everything's about practicality.
And what you're bringing together to the table also is practicality.
So let's talk about your new book about stewardship and the importance of stewardship.
So can you define what stewardship is to you?
And then how does that apply to the small Business.
David Grau Sr. (05:16):
Yeah. Thank. Thank you. And again, it took me decades to figure out the answer.
But, but then I, when I was ready, I, I wrote the book called the Stewardship Advantage.
It's basically about how to build principled and purpose small business that if you want to, can change the world.
Okay, that's 30,000 foot answer. Let's get more specific.
(05:38):
Oddly enough, I'm going to start this with what it is and then I get directly into what it is.
So a lot of folks, and Amazon's bookshelves in general tend to look at stewardship in kind of a.
A religious or a biblical concept. That's not my book.
My book is written specifically to small business owners.
It doesn't matter what you believe.
(05:59):
It doesn't matter what political ideology you live under or work under.
If you run and own a small business, you're my kind of person.
That is who I wrote the book for.
So it's politically and religiously agnostic.
That said, where you get your motivation. Fine by me.
The idea of stewardship, and to answer your question more directly now, is stewardship is marshaling
(06:22):
your resources for the future and for the lives you touch.
And so one more thing, people go, well, that's the environment.
I need to recycle more.
I need to do that.
Yes, we probably all do.
That's again, not what stewardship is.
Stewardship in my book, as I defined it, is taking great care and delivering great value to
(06:43):
the people around you who I specifically call your stakeholders.
Most small business owners, whether you're one person, I call it a force of one, or you run
a business like I used to, you know, with six or seven owners and 70 employees.
Stewardship says you got about eight stakeholders you need to think real carefully about and
(07:04):
in no particular order, your employee or employees.
That's one stakeholder or stakeholder group.
A second one is your business itself, often structured as an entity, because theoretically an
entity, unlike us mortals, an entity, entity could live forever if you help it.
But in addition to that, you've got your fellow partners now and hopefully in the future.
(07:26):
Because businesses don't last forever with one owner.
And then you've got your officers, your directors, people who may be leaders in your business,
but not necessarily the stockholder.
That's what I call the internal group of stakeholders.
Those are the people you see every day when you go into the office. External group of stakeholders.
I would lead off with your community.
(07:47):
You walk outside that door, people you meet, the customers that walk in your door.
When you go to your son or daughter's soccer game or baseball game or, you know, little league game on a weekend.
All the people that you see and touch, that's your community.
That is a really important stakeholder, external to the business. External.
But it makes a difference every day.
Another one, of course, is the environment in general.
(08:09):
My book isn't about climate change, but if we don't hand the world off in as good a shape or
better than we found it, then I don't think we're doing a very good job with the work that we do.
But in addition to that, you got your suppliers or your supply chain got to look after those
people because, you know, when times get tough, you're going to expect them to look after you.
(08:29):
And so just, just in, in a general sense, those are your, your stakeholders.
And stewardship is taking great care and delivering great value to all of your stakeholders.
Not on day one, but over the course of time.
I'll just, I'll wrap this up in a simple sentence. Stewardship is.
Stewardship says that if you take great care of your stakeholders and you help to make them
(08:54):
better, they will make you better.
And I believe that with all my heart.
And that's what I wrote my book about.
And again, that's not religious or biblical or political.
It can be if you want it to be, but that's just using your business to do good.
And boy, when you watch the news nowadays, is there any more important message?
Tim Staton (09:13):
No, absolutely. You hit the nail on the head and it's been ingrained in me, my career, that
you always leave the place better than when you left it, than you found it.
And that's a great point that you bring up.
So let's talk about stewardship in this way.
When it comes to the community, how important is that to your business and what does that look like?
David Grau Sr. (09:37):
Well, let's start with the people who walk in your front door every morning.
As a small business owner, your clients and your customers are certainly a stakeholder.
But for the most part, we live and work in the communities where we're at.
And so looking after your clients, your customers, your community, I think it starts every morning
when you turn the lights on.
How can you make your community better?
(10:00):
A short answer is give back.
So what does that mean?
Well, it doesn't have any one particular meaning.
And sometimes that's why when people go in search of stewardship, they get lost.
In my book, I give you a couple dozen good ideas about what you can do for your community, but
I think the clearest, simplest way to say it is if we start to help your community, get your
(10:23):
business, get your own house in order.
So sit down and write out your mission statement. What are your purpose?
What's your purpose in the work that you do?
What principles do you stand for?
If you could write out a 20, 30 word mission, vision, purpose statement, share with every new
employee that comes in to apply for a job, you say, this is who we are.
(10:49):
This is what I stand for.
Do you want to work for a company that believes in this?
Because people can't follow a leader who doesn't know where they're going?
So write it down based on your mission, vision, purpose statement, principles.
You hold, the work you do, size of your community.
You could be on a street corner in Manhattan, you could be on the street corner in a town of 800.
(11:11):
But based on your goals and missions, how?
Turn around and say to yourself, what could I do in my community to further my purposes and
my principles through the work that I do every single day?
And as you know, small business owners don't work Monday through Friday, 8 to 5.
These are hard working, dedicated individuals.
(11:33):
You know, if you're not in that office, you're thinking about it 24, 7.
Align your purposes and principles with, with your community's needs, the opportunities, and enjoy it. This isn't charity.
Don't go around handing out money on the street corners.
What other ways could you help make a difference?
When you start to look, it makes all the difference in the world.
(11:56):
Again, you make that stakeholder in your community better, they'll make you better.
It's a long winded answer, but thank you for letting me say it.
Tim Staton (12:04):
Absolutely. And, and I'm thinking about the businesses, the larger businesses that, that do that really well.
And I live in a state where small business is very prevalent.
And I'm reminded of even, even from the small things where, you know, people support local,
local sports, where they're like, well, you know, I believe in, in health and fitness.
(12:26):
So we're going to sponsor a little league team or we're going to sponsor, you know, a softball
team or whatever it is. And also adopting highways. Right.
I've seen businesses out there doing those things, making the community better and trying to make the environment better.
And you have great points on that.
So let's talk about then on the internal side, how can we be better at developing the internal capacity of stewardship?
David Grau Sr. (12:53):
Yeah. And thank you. Because, you know, in my book, I divide the stakeholders into two groups,
the internal group and the external group.
And the first thing I said was, you know, before you can really add on stakeholders 5, 6, 7 and 8.
You got to get 1 through 4, right?
Because as a sole proprietorship or you know, a single owner small business, there's a lot of
(13:15):
things you gotta get done every single day.
So if you want to take great care of your community and your customers, you need to probably
be more than a force of one.
So where do you start the first employee you hire and are they going to be perfect?
Well that's a work in progress, right?
So help them become better.
(13:35):
So maybe they're 23 years old and it's their first job out of college, maybe they're 42 years
old and they just retired from the army.
Wherever they're starting, how do you help them get better?
And of course better at what?
Well, what's your written mission, purpose, vision and principles you stand for?
What do you want to do better for the people around you?
(13:56):
So maybe like in my own world of financial advisors, which was a highly regulated and kind of
education focused world, maybe one of the goals is you help your key employee finish college,
or if they finish college, you help them obtain one or more professional degrees and lay out
a 10 year roadmap not for tomorrow, but every day for the next five to 10 years.
(14:21):
What can I help you do that will help you get better?
You don't have to pay for the education, but maybe if you give them one Friday off a month for
study time, maybe if you go out and hire a tutor or maybe if you pay for their books.
You know, another thing is, you know, I'm not really, I don't come right out and say, you know,
I believe in, you know, paying everyone a living wage.
(14:43):
I think that's an owner in communities decision.
But at the same time taking care of the little things.
I, I had a key employee, she was fairly young, you know, you know, seven or eight years out
of high school, but just off a divorce.
Two young children at home didn't have any support from, from the ex husband.
And so one of the first things I did 25 years ago went out and I bought her whole life policy
(15:10):
and I made the premium payments.
And it's just amazing how much those things grow in value over 25 years.
But if something had happened to her along the way, this would take care of her children.
And you know, I know it made her feel better, but it made me feel better too.
And that's one of those things she just learned.
Okay, I want that to be one of my purposes and principles and values in life.
(15:31):
Pay people what you can afford to pay them, you know, at the end of the month, after a tough
month, get their whole family movie tickets or a ticket to the local minor league baseball game.
You know, that gift certificate for some snacks and popcorns and things.
Those little things done regularly just make a world of difference. That's what stewardship is.
People say, you know, it's charity. No, not really. That's.
(15:54):
That's not at all the point.
And we're not talking about giveaways.
We're talking about motivational thoughts that make honestly the giver feel as good. It's the recipient.
And then little by little, you do that for all your employees.
And then one last thing.
The only way I was able to retire and use the succession plans that I wrote about in one of
my books, we had to hire and train and retain great next generation younger talent.
(16:19):
And I'll stress the word retain.
To become an owner of a small business, they have to buy in and they have to stay and they have
to be great at what they do.
They have to want to work there forever.
Not to overstate the case.
So how do you get an employee to that point?
I think it starts with you as the owner.
So that's the answer to the question. It's not one thing. It's lots of things.
(16:41):
And it depends on you and your goals.
But there's just so much you can do if you sit down and think it out.
And by the way, you can probably tell I'm effusive about this.
I love what I do.
And the stewardship message is it has the capacity not to overstate it.
It could change our world just by taking care of the stakeholders around you that you can touch every day.
(17:05):
I just think that's so important to do.
Tim Staton (17:07):
Absolutely. I'm a big proponent of being better tomorrow, being better today than you were yesterday, and paying that forward.
And I'm glad you have that mentality and I love that.
And you brought up a really good point about developing the next generation and having that
stewardship of your organization, of your business to like you said, it could last forever.
(17:29):
You know, the business entity could last for a long time and it could morph.
And we're coming to a point where there's a generation of people that are going into retirement
and are we doing the right things to steward in the next generation of leaders?
So I just wanted to get your perspective of that on if you think we are doing the right things
(17:50):
or what we could do better.
David Grau Sr. (17:51):
Yeah, appreciate that question. I think, I think the hard Truth is, a few of our small businesses,
if I had to put a number on it, you know, less than 10% are doing the right things.
It's not that they're avoiding doing the right things.
They don't know the mechanics of the process.
And literally the first two books I wrote in my retirement, one is called building with the end in mind.
(18:17):
And I wrote it to people my age, you know, 50s, 60s, even 70s, and said, so if you want to leave
a legacy, if you'd like to build a business that outlives you, if you'd like to build a business,
and remember we're talking about, in my case, a career with financial advisors.
These are folks who manage money literally for the next generation.
So if you want your current clients to serve your children and grandchildren, you want your
(18:42):
staff to, to serve your current clients, children and grandchildren, here's what you need to do.
Here are the mechanics, the legal, the taxes, the securities rules and regs.
And I think, I hope I made it fairly simple.
I did it in 50 rather succinct.
I call them hard hitting lessons.
They're only about four or five pages each.
You read the first half of the book, you'll know what the answer is and how to do it right.
(19:06):
But I wrote a second book then called a quote, acquiring your future.
These are for the 30 something year olds with a 20 something year old and a 40 something year
old sprinkled in who want to buy in to the business where they work.
You know, one choice is they, they simply walk out the door one day and hang out a shingle,
they can build their own business.
But another choice is, hey, if you got five or six years at the business where you're at and
(19:30):
you like it, and if you have an ownership structure that treats you well and is a good steward
to you and your fellow workers, why not buy into that ownership?
And here's how to do it.
So I wrote a book for each one of them which personally enough, I would argue, support stewardship. Right.
How can you be a great steward to your staff, your future owners, and even to your current clients,
(19:54):
children and grandchildren if you don't build something with the end in mind, something that can outlast you.
So I call it a cohesive trilogy.
You don't have to read all three, but you'd learn a lot if you did.
Tim Staton (20:07):
Absolutely. How often do people do you think, build with the end in mind?
Or do you think people build a business for the intermediate period and then at some point come
to realization of this is going to end.
What is my exit strategy and what does that look like?
David Grau Sr. (20:23):
Yeah, I think you hit it with the latter, the intermediate part, because I think for most small
business owners, the first 10 years are, you know, you're, you're battling with everything you
got just to avoid going over the falls and thinking long term is harder.
But, but that's exactly why I made the argument in my book, the Stewardship Advantage. Good steward.
(20:44):
You don't come out of the gate being a great steward of all eight stakeholder groups.
That's a bridge too far. Pick one or two.
And I think your employees and your clients and customers are probably where I'd start.
Stewardship will help you build bigger, better, faster, stronger business if you want, can outlive you.
So when's a good time to start that day one, you don't have to go out and hire people right away.
(21:06):
You don't have to go sponsor the local little league team, but you should know about those opportunities
and I think you should build your business with that in mind.
And so stewardship isn't designed for when you have time and extra money.
It's a business building process.
And, and that's the difference. Don't wait too long.
You'll learn something from every one of my books on the first day of your new venture.
(21:30):
In self employment, people do too long.
Tim Staton (21:34):
So when you're watching this right now and you're like, man, I fall into any one of those categories,
you need to go check out David Growl.
And in the description of this episode, we're going to have his YouTube, we're going to have
links to everything that you can contact him and get, get a hold of him and know where he's
talking about so you can get more details because you have a lot to offer.
(21:54):
And it's amazing because even as I'm thinking through things now, I'm like, you know, I wonder how often this happens.
And of course you've been there, so you've experienced it.
You're like, actually, it's the letter.
So if you were to offer up one thing that somebody could do today to start with stewardship,
what would be that one thing that you would say?
(22:17):
This will give you the most bang for your time, your effort, your energy.
David Grau Sr. (22:21):
Okay, I appreciate that question.
And to those listening in, I just want you to know something.
Tim doesn't give the questions out in advance.
He makes you earn this stuff and think it out.
And so my short answer I think would be, and I honestly don't mean this to be self serving,
but When I wrote my book, I started to prepare to write the Stewardship Advantage.
(22:44):
I literally picked up the phone or sent out emails to about four dozen of my friends, former
colleagues, and small business owners that I admired and trusted.
And I simply asked him a question. Don't look anything up.
Just give me a quick answer.
What does stewardship in a small business setting mean to you? And you'll understand why.
My answer is, read my book, please.
(23:05):
Because I got 48 different answers. Know.
Some admittedly said, you know, it's a religious prophecy.
Some said, no, no, it's, it's, it's this, it's that, it's, it's charity, it's taking care of
the homeless, it's fixing up the environment. There weren't wrong answers.
They were just respectfully incomplete, woefully incomplete.
And so I think stewardship is such a powerful and important tool in the hands of 500 million
(23:32):
small business owners around the planet.
It literally can help us make our world a better place.
But I don't think you can implement it effectively until you understand the mechanics, you know, what it is.
And, and I'm a bit of a technician.
And so my book has. It's not.
I hope it's not boring.
It's not a academic tome by any means, but, you know, I got fun stories in there. I called on Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
(23:57):
Hyde for part of it.
I went back to my high school French class for another part of it.
It's a fun book to read, but I think it'll surprise the typical reader who thinks they already
have an idea what stewardship is.
If I may be so bold and blunt and respectful.
You don't, but you need to. Because stewardship changes everything. Why?
(24:19):
And this is a question I force myself to ask at the start of every chapter I write and at the
end of it, why does this matter?
Why should this matter to anyone? Anyone?
And so part of the subtitle of my book is, and maybe you built a small business that can change the world. Why? Why should I care?
The world is a mess.
There's hardly enough to go around for my own family. I work hard.
(24:42):
I deserve what I get.
Why should I care about helping all those around me?
Why don't I just make as much profit and grow the business as fast as I can and then get out of Dodge?
And that's a fair question.
And in fact, I devoted an entire chapter to it.
I called it the Cold Hard Business Case.
Because you can't get to the good side of stewardship.
(25:02):
Don't go through the realities of why should I do it?
And so I make that argument. And I reached out.
I'm an English major from Purdue.
I think I was a lone English major in a sea of engineers.
But I called on Robert Louis Stevenson and Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, and I said, you know, there's some Dr.
Jekyll and Mr.— Hyde in all of us.
(25:24):
And I think there are days at the end of a long, hard week, you go get a line of credit and
you put your house on the line. Yeah.
Why should I share it?
And then I take you back to understanding what stewardship is.
We're not asking you to give away your money.
Yes, maybe your time, maybe your knowledge.
Helping make other people better doesn't mean just giving stuff away. This is not stewardship.
(25:49):
So before you dismiss the concept, I'll go back to my answer for the last question.
Spend $20 on Amazon and learn what it is that you might be dismissing.
Learn what it is that stewardship just might change.
Because I'll just be so daring as to say, if you give it a chance, it will change your business
life, but if you allow it, it'll change who you are, too.
(26:09):
It did that for me.
And so with my book, I want to pass that on.
But thank you for that question.
Tim Staton (26:14):
The more you put out there, the more you're going to get in return.
And I love how passionate you are about this, how you live this out yourself.
And you're a great example of what stewardship looks like, and you've laid it out in your books,
and you dedicated time and effort to it so everyone can check it out.
So if you're watching this, go to his stuff. Go check it out.
(26:36):
He's the real deal when he's talking about stewardship.
And not many people are really talking about true stewardship.
People are talking about doing things to get ahead here and there.
But true stewardship, you know, David Senior, he's talking about how to truly give back and
how to truly be good stewards of what you're entrusted with.
So, David, I really appreciate that you're talking about it.
(26:56):
Thank you for being on the show today and having this conversation.
Thank you so much, Tim.
David Grau Sr. (27:01):
Thank you for the opportunity.
And if I just may remind your listeners, doing good is good business. Have a good day.
Tim Staton (27:10):
As always, thank you for stopping by and checking out this episode and listening to it.
I really hope that you enjoyed it.
Before we go, I'd like to ask a favor of you if I could.
If you could please share this episode with one or two people who you think might like this topic.
If you haven't followed or subscribed on the platform that you're listening to, and hit all
the bells and icons and all the whistles so that you know that when we post another episode
(27:31):
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Again, thanks for stopping by. I'm Tim Staton.
David Grau Sr. (27:47):
State in the obvious Sam.
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