Meet David Grau Sr.
David Grau Sr. is an award winning author and passionate advocate for small business stewardship. In a career spanning over three decades, David has advised thousands of small business owners on issues of succession planning and enterprise value. But more recently his focus has shifted — not away from business, but much deeper into its purpose and benefits. His current writing centers on a simple but powerful belief: that small business owners have the capacity, and arguably the responsibility, to leave the world in a better place than they found it.
In his latest book, The Stewardship Advantage: Building a Profitable and Principled Small Business, David Sr. offers practical and professional guidance on how to be a good small business steward—not just of profits and shareholders — but of all stakeholders including one’s community, customers, employees, suppliers, partners, officers, and the environment. He writes to a global audience of owners, leaders, and changemakers ready to do business differently…and better, for generations to come!
My story...
I began my small business career as a sole proprietor in my own securities law practice. In the beginning, I was a force of one, hanging out my shingle and starting in the same place as many of you. I loved being a sole proprietor! But in truth as I look back, I owned a job that depended entirely on me to generate income, handle marketing, sales, customer service and more. It was hard, and fulfilling.
If things didn’t go well, I could have a heart-to-heart talk with the owner every morning, which I did often.
But things got better, the business grew, and I added some much needed help.
In time, I sold my successful small law practice and used the funds to start something bigger – a professional services business specializing in succession planning, exit planning and continuity planning, an operation that came to provide hundreds of business valuations every year (over 15,000 by the time I retired from that business).
Twenty-five years later, I completed my own succession plan from this business, selling my equity incrementally back to the business I started and to the next generation owners, all of whom I hired directly or indirectly. And then that business continued on without me, as it should.
In our work at this consulting business, we often challenged our clients to build a business that mattered, or made a difference. We just never got around to explaining how and why, so I decided to fix that with my new book, The Stewardship Advantage (awarded a 2025 Bronze Medal by The Global Book Awards committee).
Because small business stewardship changes everything and affects everyone!
With the 2025 summer launch of The Stewardship Advantage, I have five non-fiction books published, the last three forming a trilogy on stewardship, succession, and small business transformation.
In 2024, I wrote Building With the End in Mind, and in early 2025, Acquiring Your Future Through a Succession Plan. Together, these two foundational books create the only modern series written for both generations of the legacy building process that supports good stewardship from one generation to the next.
Prior to authoring these books, I wrote a monthly column in Financial Planning Magazine for six years on the subjects of small business perpetuation, cash flow management, and valuation.
I have also written and published two dozen professional white papers, won a host of national awards, graced a magazine cover or two, and been the subject of numerous articles for my contributions and thought leadership on equity-management and business perpetuation. And there is still much work to be done!
Being a good steward is the next and most important step of all. And be sure to check out The Stewardship Channel at: www.youtube.com/@davidgrausr for new weekly videos and up to date information on my work – more than 5,000 new subscribers in the first two months! Stewardship matters around the world to small business owners.
One of the few things I like more than writing is traveling. I’m at home in an airport or in the air. Traveling is a humbling and thought-provoking experience. One moment you’re on top of the world, looking down, immersed in the quiet of your own thoughts and dreams, and the next, you are one of 100,000 people packed into a series of chaotic concourses all trying to get someplace in a hurry during a thunderstorm.
With over 2 million miles and counting, I have delivered over a thousand presentations and workshops to date in 48 different States. If you need a speaker on stewardship, succession, and small business transformation, or just “doing good for your stakeholders” at your annual conference, please have the folks in charge reach out to me.
Thank you for taking the time to visit my author's site and learn more about my story. I look forward to hearing about yours.
My Books
