The Story Only Your Family Can Tell

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast

Ep. 159: The Story Only Your Family Can Tell with Roy Moëd & Yvette Conn

 

In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker sits down with Roy Moëd and Yvette Conn, co-founders of Lifebook Memoirs, for a rich conversation about why documenting the stories of family business founders may be one of the most underutilized tools in the entire legacy planning space. Roy’s journey into this work began with a deeply personal moment — repeatedly shutting down his blind father’s stories until it was almost too late — and evolved into a global enterprise that has now chronicled over 20,000 lives across the world. Yvette, with her background in financial markets and business commentary, brings the lens of the family enterprise: how the unrecorded stories of founders get distorted over generations, how family myths quietly become sources of division, and how a book chronicling the origin of a family business can give an entire management team a living framework of values to build on. Together, they explore why so many people believe their story isn’t worth telling, what it actually looks like to capture a 100-year-old family business history, the surprising emotional and relational benefits that emerge when stories are finally put to paper, and why a book — not a video — remains the most powerful medium for preserving a family’s truth. This is a quietly profound episode for any family business leader who has ever wondered whether the story of how it all began still matters.

Episode Chapters

·       5:28   Meet Roy Moëd and Yvette Conn

·       6:07   The Genesis: A Blind Father and a Secretary Who Listened

·       9:34   From Memoir to Family Business Stories — How Lifebook Evolved

·       11:07  Who Am I to Have My Story Written? The Self-Worth Question

·       13:00  The Aha Moment: Why Every Story Is Worth Telling

·       17:42  The Value to the Reader — Not Just the Subject

·       19:00  How Founders’ Stories Give the Next Gen Permission to Try and Permission to Fail

·       20:40  Passing On Values, Not Just Value

·       22:08  When the Family Story Gets Distorted — and Why It Causes Division

·       24:46  Capturing Stories of Founders Who Are No Longer Alive

·       27:21  You Can’t Ensure Your Memory, But You Can Ensure Your Memories

·       30:42  How This Work Has Enriched Their Own Lives

·       37:11  What Families Ask: How Much Time Does This Actually Take?

·       39:46  Using the Book Project as a Legacy Role for a Retiring Founder

·       42:39  Why a Book Beats a Video

·       43:40  Resources and Farewell

 

Websites

·       lifebookmemoirs.com

·       chrisyonker.com

 

About Roy Moëd

Roy Moëd is the co-founder of LifeBook Memoirs, which he launched in 2010 alongside his wife Yvette following extensive research at the Toronto Brain Health Institute. The company officially launched in October 2011 and secured venture capital funding in 2012. Today, over 20,000 people worldwide own a LifeBook. Roy’s entrepreneurial journey began in 1978 with the founding of Pourshins Limited, which he built — starting with just £4,800 — into an international enterprise employing over 600 staff across four factories in four countries. He later re-engineered the company into a global virtual logistics and BPO provider before selling it to gategroup in 2007. Beyond business, Roy is a passionate philanthropist and advocate: he founded a polo club in Windsor, participated in the London to Sydney air race to raise money for charity, volunteered with Crisis at Christmas, and assisted with refugee relocation efforts at the Polish-Ukrainian border. He has been an active YPO member since 1991 and is deeply involved in the Parenting Community, creating forums and events focused on ageing parents.

About Yvette Conn

Yvette Conn co-founded LifeBook Memoirs in 2011 after a distinguished career in financial markets. After earning her Economics degree from the University of Bath, she entered the City of London — then still heavily male-dominated — and rose through the ranks at Laurie Milbank and later Investec, becoming one of the first female partners in the City and a member of the London Stock Exchange. Today, alongside her role at LifeBook, she leads the company’s prestigious OPUS Division, which works with individuals, families, and founders to capture their life journeys and preserve their legacies for future generations. Yvette’s rare combination of financial rigour and emotional intelligence allows her to guide clients through the storytelling process with warmth, discretion, and authenticity. As she puts it: “While a balance sheet tells you what a family owns, a story tells you who they are.”