For almost all businesses, a tension exists between privacy and transparency. How much do customers, investors and staff need to know? The line is different for every business, but what’s universal—whether you’re a founder, a CEO-for-hire or a company board navigating generational change—is that you do have a story. What’s harder to answer is the question of who owns that story.

In our age of authenticity and disclosure, silence isn’t safe—and sharing isn’t simple. Storytelling becomes not just a communication tool, but a governance strategy. It’s a challenge that only becomes more heated when the business is owned and operated by an enterprise family: Where is the safe zone between the inside voice of family legacy and the public face of operational leadership? When should we stay quiet, and when should we speak up?

I’ve spent 26 years supporting family enterprises through storytelling. Here are four lessons I’ve learned that I think can apply to anybody trying to navigate the contours of their legacy in real time.

1. Own your narrative, even if it’s messy

A Mexican quick-service chain restaurant hired my agency a few years ago to preserve the legacy of its two founding families. Started in the late 1960s, the franchise business was still governed by a board of family members who held deep and sometimes divergent views about how the brand’s future should build on its past. This tension had slowed business when a new president took the reins. He was confident that there was a line worth defending, but how could he reconcile the two branches of the founding family—one favoring aggressive expansion, and the other clinging fiercely to the family’s debt-averse ways? And what could he say to inspire the rest of the board members who were trying to stay neutral

With the president’s blessing, we (delicately) put the dilemma into one canonical story that everyone could agree on. It was a tricky act to honor the past without alienating the future, but that purpose vacuum had to be filled. And the president was right to lock down the story: Steady growth ensued.

2. Find the echoes in your history

When Doug McMillon took over as Walmart’s CEO, he didn’t try to replicate Sam Walton’s famously frugal ways or old-school playbook. Instead, he invoked Walmart’s core values—respect, integrity, service and excellence—as a compass for modernization. His approach, forged in collaboration with the Walton family and the company’s board, shows how strategic storytelling can comb through your history for the truly pivotal plot points. It’s an example I turn to again and again—always finding fresh inspiration as I encourage clients to chase the red thread of their shared values and experiences across generational change. Your past can indeed instruct your future.

3. Embrace conflict

When a successful family grocery business approached my agency for a series of legacy books and interview services, they were wrestling with some complex generational evolution. Ownership tensions between family board members had dragged relationships into difficult terrain. Tears were shed; contingency plans were made and scrapped. What saved the business—and made its history such a cracking read—was a shared commitment to putting the family’s many disagreements into one overarching mission they could share: in their case, a mutual wish to benefit their families, their workers and their communities.

Don’t shy away from the very real divergences that pepper your history. That authenticity is gold. But do the work to understand the benefits that result from unpacking those disagreements. As Marie Curie is believed to have said, “Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.”

4. Let your history speak for you

My agency was invited to document the history of a private members’ club at the time of its centennial. The club’s board—family members with a weighty legacy to preserve—was struggling to attract a new generation of members without alienating the elder guard. We spoke to members of all ages—from those in their 20s to those in their 100s (really!)—to find a web of values that could connect such a seemingly diverse group of individuals. There were chasms of misunderstanding, but we judiciously chose a few stories of purpose that anyone could relate to. These became the foundation of an origin story and set of values that prioritize commonality, putting the young-versus-old story to bed once and for all.

For family enterprises—and any business balancing history with growth, really—the story is never just about the past. Again and again in the work I’ve done, I’ve seen that it’s about alignment. It’s about investing the time and energy. And it’s about a shared commitment.

Storytelling done well doesn’t just preserve culture; it powers strategy. It clarifies decision making. It builds trust inside and out. That doesn’t necessarily require publishing a culture book. You could start with journaling or a quiet sit-down with a biographer. What matters most is starting now—while the story is still unfolding and the voices are still present. Because the question isn’t whether the story will be told. It’s whether your values will guide the telling.