I was winning at work and losing at everything that actually mattered.

Today I'm a certified Scaling Up coach. I help CEOs of growing businesses, social enterprises and not-for-profits find the cash and get their team behind the plan.

Based in Wollongong, working across Sydney and Australia.

Benn Lim, certified Scaling Up coach based in Wollongong, smiling outdoors in a dark wool coat

Why I Coach

There was a period in my life when, by any external measure, I was doing well. Senior role. Impressive firm. The kind of career that looks right on paper and at dinner parties. My eldest son was 11 months old. And my marriage was quietly falling apart. Because I was falling apart. Not dramatically. Not with a single moment I could point to. Just slowly, the way things unravel when you're never truly present. When every emergency is a work emergency. When the person who needs you most keeps getting the leftover version of you. I remember the moment it landed: if this is what success looks like, something is deeply wrong. So I stopped. Stepped away from corporate life for two and a half years. Tried to learn how to be a dad. I trained and became a certified Hand in Hand Parenting coach.

Tried to figure out who I actually was outside of a title and a revenue target. That's where my inner work started. It wasn't graceful. It wasn't a clean pivot with a plan. It was just a man realising he'd been optimising for the wrong things. That's where Ikigai Impact came from. Not from a business plan. From a breaking point. Through the parenting work and my own inner work, I learnt how human beings actually work. How trust is built. How emotional safety shapes performance. How the same things that strengthen families also build high-performing teams. And when I began working with founders and CEOs, I saw the same pattern again and again. The business problems and the personal problems are always the same problem. They're tired. And tired people can't lead clearly. I do this work because I've been that person. And I know what it takes to find the way through.

Benn Lim with his arms in the air, grinning on a coastal walk near a lighthouse

Benn Lim smiling in front of a waterfall after a hike

I start with your cash, then I work with your people.

Money is oxygen. It gives you options to help more people. And a plan only works when your people make it happen. I work at the business level and the human level at the same time, because when the leader is out of step, it eventually shows up in the P&L.

A-group-of-architects-in-a-messy-studio-room-brainstorming new ideas scaling up with verne harnish

I've sat in the seat.

20+ years across finance, operations and governance.

From financial adviser at UBS Wealth Management to COO of a global B Corp investment group.

I first learnt Scaling Up at Arowana in 2015 and have used it ever since, first running businesses as a COO and now as a certified coach.

Board experience

Non-Executive Director at EdventureCo and Elevate Money.

Former Chief Operating & Impact Officer, Arowana

Led the B Corp certification, investor engagement and operational strategy through tough market conditions.

Culture that lifts performance

Led a shift at Arowana to line up values with strategy, which improved engagement and hiring and earned a 4.9/5 Glassdoor rating.

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Why Ikigai Impact?

Ikigai is a Japanese idea about what makes life feel worth living.

It isn't about neat answers. It's the people, the work and the moments that give you meaning and direction. Impact is the effect we have. Ikigai is what keeps that work alive. I want to help leaders build organisations that perform well and still feel worth giving their energy to.

"What Benn brings is a genuine coaching mindset. He treats a team the way a great coach treats their players, focused on getting the best out of everyone and lifting the whole group to high performing. It's more than management, it's the thing that actually makes a team fire."

Simone Montgomery, COO, Learning Links

Want to see if we're a fit?

Book a discovery call and we'll have an honest chat about where you're stuck, and whether I can help.

Ikigai Impact Learning Links Quarterly Workshop

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