Your introduction to Steward-Ownership
For everyone curious, exploring, or already working with steward-ownership.
The Steward-Ownership 101 book
(Re)-discover the core principles, legal implementations, and real-world examples behind steward-owned businesses.
We offer 4 formats for every kind of reader:
“This is not woke capitalism, this is the future of business.”
What topics does this book cover?
Whatever your background or motivation, the content is written to help you take that next step from a moment of inspiration about steward-ownership to a deeper exploration, and ultimately, to action. We know that steward-ownership can feel complex, but we've organized the content as a first step to guide you through it and assist you on your own journey.
In this edition, we have a new, comprehensive chapter dedicated to steward-ownership aligned financing (SOAF), with detailed case studies and stories of both companies and investors.
Steward-Ownership Basics
Steward-ownership basics: the foundation and principles of steward-ownership.
Theory of Steward-Ownership
Theory of Steward-ownership: implementation, legal pathways and the relation to alternative ownership structures.
Steward-Ownership in Practice
Company examples from history, start-up world and succession cases.
Steward-Ownership Aligned Financing (SOAF)
Learn how to finance steward-owned businesses
SOAF in Practice
Case studies showing how SOAF works in practice.
Steward-Ownership Ecosystem
Steward-Ownership Ecosystem: A global movement of fieldbuilders & how to get involved.
Who you will find in the book:
Why did we create 'Steward-Ownership 101'?
A decade after the first edition, then known as the Blue Book, was created, steward-ownership was still emerging. Today, it has become a global movement, embraced by entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and practitioners across many contexts.
This book was created as a starting point in this growing field to make steward-ownership easier to understand and navigate. It offers a clear introduction to the principles, models, and real-world practices of steward-ownership, helping you move from curiosity to informed action.
To support different ways of learning, the guide is available as a printed book, digital downloads, and an interactive online experience; so you can explore the material in the format that works best for you.
Donate to support our non-profit work
If this book or our work supports you, we warmly invite you to give back through a voluntary donation. Your contribution helps us continue researching, sharing, and advancing steward-ownership. Thank you, and happy reading.
Give backClick on the format that works for you and begin exploring:
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What you might be wondering...
Steward-ownership is a proven ownership model that has been in place for many decades – having been implemented by companies like Zeiss (Germany), Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Patagonia (USA), Bosch (Germany), Signal (USA), BuurtzorgT (Netherlands), Carlsberg (Denmark) and many others around the world.
It presents an innovative alternative to conventional ownership models. It allows start-ups to legally safeguard their mission and set-up aligned financing structures. It enables medium-sized business and Hidden Champions to set-up sustainable structures, where successors can become steward-owners independent of family affiliation or acquisition power. It also allows large corporations and market leaders to set up aligned and sustainable structures for the future.
Steward-ownership is growing because it solves a core challenge for businesses: staying true to their mission while avoiding the pressures of traditional, shareholder value driven ownership. By separating control (voting rights held by stewards) from economic rights, it protects companies from mission drift, takeovers, and speculative pressure, allowing them to remain self-determined and purpose-oriented in the long run.
Steward-ownership is not one rigid legal model. Multiple solutions exist to embody what steward-ownership is: two principles (self-determination and purpose orientation) and a (legally) binding way to implement them. This book gives you a map, not a prescription. It shows the terrain, the options, the principles, and the trade-offs, leaving you informed, not boxed-in.
The learning journey is an online, browser-based version of the Steward-Ownership 101 book that explains the principles, models, and examples of steward-ownership, and lets you:
- Navigate chapters easily
- Skip to topics relevant to you
- Save your reading progress
- Share direct links to chapters with colleagues
Thank you!
A heartfelt thanks to our partners and international fieldbuilders
for supporting this work in various forms: