OVERVIEW
Human Potential Strategist | Business Lifecycle Psychologist | Culture Architect | Societal Wellbeing Catalyst
SUMMARY
Dr. David Gruder, PhD, DCEP, is the bestselling Business Lifecycle Psychologist, Human Potential Strategist, and Societal Wellbeing Catalyst, who was named America's Integrity Expert by Radio-TV Interview Report. His PhD is in clinical and organizational development psychology. Dr. Gruder is a Board Chair-level Advisor & Chief Integrity Officer to leaders, executives, innovators, & helping professionals who are called to help repair & elevate the world in their own unique ways. With what has been hailed as "a field of wisdom that few can match," he catalyzes psychospiritual literacy in the areas of executive success, leader development, culture architecture, M&A, governance, and societal wellbeing. His unusually broad range of expertise is reflected in the personal and book awards he has received in the areas of: politics & society, social change, culture creation, visionary leadership, conscious business & leadership, health & wellness, mental health, transformational psychology, and self-help. Since the 1970s, he has provided keynotes, training programs, and consulting worldwide.
BACKGROUND
Dr. Gruder earned his PhD in clinical & organizational development psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in 1982, a decade after he was trained in Master Planning (50-100 year plans). An entrepreneur since 1980, he became been dually licensed in California as a psychologist (PSY9266) and a marriage & family therapist (MFT18889) in the mid-1980s. As a leader, trainer and keynote speaker, he combines 4 decades of expertise in curriculum design and training techniques with his early experiences as a musician (trombone and voice), actor, and vocal director, and his extensive experience providing psychotherapy between 1980 and 2000. As a professional writer and frequent media guest, he also draws on his early experiences as the executive editor of a university newspaper and his education in print and broadcast journalism.
EXPERTISE
In addition to international acclaim as a thought leader in integrity and ethics, Dr. Gruder's expertise includes Leader Personal Power Effectiveness, Strategic Integrated Self-Development, High-Performance Team Collaboration, Holding People Accountable Without Being a Tyrant, the Psychology of Effective Messaging & Marketing, Entrepreneur Success Psychology (including Sequencing Effectiveness), the Psychology of Successful Rainmaking With Funders, Visibility Creators & Customers, Skills for Repairing Our Hyper-Polarized Perpetual Stress Society, and Energy Psychology.
EXPERIENCE
Since the 1970s, Dr. Gruder has held administrative, leadership and training roles in virtually sector of the human potential movement. Over the course of his career, he has provided keynotes and training programs on well over 100 different topics in leadership, entrepreneurship, psychology, relationship development, and self-development, in 7 countries on 3 continents, and via the internet. He has been a consultant, mentor, and trusted advisor to a wide variety of leaders, executives, entrepreneurs, work teams, helping professionals, elected officials, and integrative self-developers, in the for-profit, nonprofit, and public sectors. In addition to founding for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations, he has served on numerous boards of directors, has been Special Counsel to CEOs and Boards, has been a TEDx Speaker, and has trained a group of World Trade Organization Ambassadors.
CURRENT & PAST LEADERSHIP, ADMINISTRATIVE & TRAINING POSITIONS
Dr. Gruder is on the board & faculty for CEO Space International, a leading entrepreneur development organization. He is also a Core Faculty with the California Institute for Human Science, a Guest Faculty for the Association for Integrative Health & Medicine's Interrprofessional Fellowship Program, and a Certified Elder in the ManKind Project, an international nonprofit whose mission is creating a safer world through helping men become safer and more integrious. In the mid-1970s he was the administrative assistant to the president of Alfred University, and an administrator for the first integrative health & medicine professional organization, the Association for Holistic Health. He went on in 1998 to co-found and serve as the first president of the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP). He also co-architected ACEP's code of ethics and two of their certification programs.
RECOGNITIONS RECEIVED
Dr. Gruder was taken by surprise in 2002 when he was named the first recipient of a leadership award that had been named in his honor (the David Gruder Leadership Award). He was proclaimed “America’s Integrity Expert” by Radio -TV Interview Reports in 2008. In 2016, he received an additional award for his work in creating collaborative cultures in organizations. In 2019 he received a Visionary Leadership award. His books have received a total of 8 awards in a remarkably wide range of categories that are listed in the next section.
BOOKS PUBLISHED
Having grown up being relentlessly edited in technical writing by his attorney father, and in creative writing by his published-poet mother, Dr. Gruder was virtually destined to become a multi-award-winning author. As a young man, he added journalism to his repertoire through being a proofreader, reporter, columnist, and ultimately executive editor of his college newspaper. He has since appeared in 26 books that he has authored, co-authored, been the Psychology Editor for, written chapters in, or authored forewords or afterwords. A multi-category best selling writer (business leadership, business consulting, and small business & entrepreneur consulting), the books of which he has been the primary or sole author have won 8 awards in: “Politics & Society,” “Culture Change,” “Business & Leadership,” “Health & Wellness,” “Mental Health,” “Psychology,” and “Self-Help” (2 times). Those awards began with his first published book, Sensible Self-Help: The First Road Map for the Healing Journey, which won two book awards, including Colliers 1997 Mental Health Book of the Year. His classic on integrity restoration, The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships & Our World, earned six more awards. Over the course of his career he has also produced well over a dozen training manuals, 70+ audio programs, two certification programs, multiple online courses, and A Declaration of Global Responsibility: 10 Principles for an Integrated Response to the Root Causes of Terrorism.
MEDIA EXPERIENCE & VISIBILITY
Dr. Gruder credits his training in print and broadcast journalism in college with laying a solid foundation that resulted in his having given hundreds of local, syndicated, and national radio, television and print interviews over nearly 4 decades. He has also been published numerous articles in a variety of outlets. Some highlights include Inc (twice), Forbes (17 times), and Nonprofit Performance Magazine (3 times), and co-hosted the Integrity Talk Radio show until time demands made it impractical for him to continue that show.
INTERESTING ADDITIONAL TIDBITS
A child of the 1950s & 1960s, David's parents naively sent him to Woodstock when he was 15 (a very funny story!), and his experiences there continue to influence his personal and professional and personal life in surprisingly useful ways. He was equally profoundly impacted by having been in New York when 9-11 attacks occurred. David's first love was music. When he won his first award at age 17 (the G. Gordon Knight Award for Outstanding Musicanship), he was expected by many to make music his career. From age 10 to 21, he performed on trombone and vocally. As a trombonist, he was in classical and marching bands, classical orchestras, jazz ensembles, and performed in pit orchestra for musicals. As a vocalist, he sang in large choirs, in small ensembles (classical, pop, and barbershop quartet), as a soloist, and as a lead-role actor in musicals. He also served as vocal director and assistant conductor for a couple of musicals. Having grown up in and around New York City, David has lived in San Diego, California, since 1975. His wife Laurie is a licensed acupuncturist and artist with a permanent exhibition in San Diego (and soon in Chicago as well). They take great delight in having boundless fun with each other, with their unendingly delightful cats Isabel & Sage, and with their family and friends.
HOW TO ENGAGE DR. GRUDER
** As a Speaker, Trainer & Media Guest: Whether your audience is executives, entrepreneurs, thought leaders/influencers, helping professionals, or advanced self-developers, Dr. Gruder has an array of A-List keynotes and training programs that will delight them. He can adapt any of his many existing presentations & programs to your specific audience, or he can rapidly develop a custom program exclusively for your needs.
** As a Consultant, Advisor, & Mentor: Dr. Gruder provides consultations with businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions, and governance groups, and he also advises and mentors a select handful of CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, change facilitators, and helping professionals.
** How to Set Up an Engagement Exploration Meeting with Dr. Gruder: If you're seeking a speaker, trainer, consultant, advisor, mentor, or media guest, Dr. Gruder welcomes your inquiries. Access his online scheduler via his main website and select the Engagement Exploration option: www.DrGruder.com.
