Executive coach & advisor for CEOs and business owners · Vancouver, BC

Clarity for the decision you keep coming back to.

I’m Sebastian Schilling, an executive coach based in Vancouver and a former CEO. I work with CEOs, business owners and executive teams, one-to-one or together, at a crossroads where a business question and a personal one have become tangled: selling or succession, bringing in a CEO, scaling or stepping back, the next role. Together we untangle them, and you leave with a clear understanding of how to move forward and why.

Book a free first call How it works

Sebastian Schilling, smiling, in a white shirt

20+years in leadership roles
9-figurerevenue responsibility
Global M&Aled strategy and transactions for a global supplier
CEOthrough a turnaround, a digital spin-off and an exit

01 When people come to me

A question you've been carrying for a while.

Some questions never leave. They just move to the back seat and ride along, through every meeting and every holiday. At this level there's no shortage of options or advice. What's missing is a quiet conversation and an outside view from someone with no stake in the answer.

Should I sell the business, plan my succession, bring in a CEO, or stay at the helm?
Do I keep investing and scale, or is it time to step back?
Which strategic direction do I commit to when both make sense on paper?
What comes next for me: the next role, or life after an exit?
How do I lead the company without it running my life?

02 My approach

Hard decisions don’t get stuck in one place. They get stuck in between.

Take the question of whether to exit your business. The banker asks what the company is worth. The coach asks what you really want. The real answer usually sits where those questions meet: what is it worth, and who am I without it?

Strategy, finance, psychology and emotion each have their experts, and each is valuable. I bring the four into one conversation, because that is where a decision becomes clear, and where it holds.

Should I sell?

One conversation. The questions start to answer each other, and the decision gets clear.

What makes the difference

Three things you can count on.

I tell you what I see

Coaching usually stops at questions. I ask them too, and then I tell you what I think is going on. As a hypothesis for you to test, not as a verdict.

I say what others won’t

The higher you climb, the less honest feedback reaches you. From me you get it straight: respectful, independent, and on your side.

The whole picture

A good decision has to work on paper and in your life. So we look at both side by side: what each option is worth, and what it means for you, your family and your team. If one side is missing, the decision won’t hold.

03 The Clarity Method

Five steps, four weeks.

Connect Understand Explore Clarify Anchor

It starts with a conversation, not a contract. A structured intake lets me analyse your situation in depth before we meet, and the written memo keeps the clarity with you long after. Open each step for the details.

1ConnectA first call 30 minutes, freeYou tell me what's on your mind, and we see together whether I'm the right person for it.

There's no preparation needed for this call. If someone else would be a better fit for your question, I'll tell you, and where I can, point you to them.

2UnderstandStructured intake About an hour of your time, no formsThree short building blocks give me the basis for an in-depth analysis before we meet.

Designed for full calendars: no questionnaires. I analyse everything you send and come to our conversation prepared and with first hypotheses, so we start at depth rather than at the beginning.

Your perspectiveA voice note of about fifteen minutes on four guiding questions, recorded whenever it suits you.
The key factsA few facts about the business and your personal situation, so options can be assessed on solid ground.
Outside viewsA few people close to you, at work and beyond, answer two short questions about you.

3ExploreThe conversation Two to three hours, in person, ideally outdoorsWe get to the bottom of the open questions, test some first hypotheses and frame the real question as precisely as possible.

Building on the intake, we take the time the questions need. The trail does part of the work: somewhere between the first kilometre and the last, the real question tends to step out from behind the obvious one. By the end, the question is framed so that, once answered, it moves you forward. We always meet in person, often outside in nature, allowing for fresh thoughts, creative ideas and unguarded discussions. Research backs this up: time among trees lowers stress, a walk in nature quiets brooding, and walking lifts creative output by around 60 percent. Side by side rather than face to face, it’s easier to say what you haven’t said yet. In Vancouver that might be a trail on the North Shore, Lynn Canyon or Mount Seymour, or wherever suits you. For clients elsewhere, I travel.

Sources: Park et al., Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine (2009) · Bratman et al., PNAS (2015) · Oppezzo & Schwartz, Journal of Experimental Psychology (2014)

4ClarifyYour Clarity Memo Within a weekEverything in writing: what I heard, the pattern I see, your options and the next steps.

Clarity fades faster than we'd like to admit. Ink doesn't. Something you can come back to, and share with the people you decide with.

Where a decision turns on money, the memo comes with a simple model of your options. You see what each path means for you, and you can test the assumptions yourself or hand it to your adviser.

01What I heard, in your own words
02The pattern I see, offered as a hypothesis
03Your options, weighed on hard facts and soft facts
04Concrete next steps for the coming weeks

Download a sample memo (PDF)

Seven pages, written for an invented client. Real memos are written for one person only and never shared.

5AnchorFollow-up Two to four weeks laterWe meet again to see what has held, what has moved, and what comes next.

Clarity counts once it turns into action. The follow-up is where we check that, adjust the next steps if needed, and decide together whether further support makes sense.

04 About me

I've sat on both sides of the table.

2003HenkelGlobal consumer goods · group strategy

2013Protection OneCEO · turnaround and sale to Securitas

2017SafeplaceFounded a digital spin-off for private homes

2019SchaefflerAutomotive · global leadership team

2024Family officeManaging Partner, then board

Since 200811 coaching engagementsOn the other side of the table

2019Hoffman ProcessIntensive personal development

2021 · 2022Systemic coachingTraining in coaching and team development, ISB, Germany

2026The Clarity RefugeWhere both lanes meet

Later came a move across the Atlantic with my family. Today I live in Vancouver with my wife and our two children.

Sebastian Schilling

20+years in leadership
11coaching engagements as a client, since 2008
4languages: English, German, Dutch, French
EOmember, Entrepreneurs' Organization

My story

The long way round.

In 2013 I was working for a large corporation. My father had built our family business since 1995, and he asked me to take it over.

I didn’t want to. I had three good reasons. I had never run a mid-sized company. I hate selling, and this company lived from selling. And I did not want to mix family and business.

All three doubts were right. I went in anyway.

It went wrong, slowly and then completely. It ended in a burnout. One day I fell while out running, and I don’t know how long I lay there. I had made commitments. I was carrying someone else’s legacy. It felt like a cage I would never get out of.

What followed was a company of my own, and later the sale of both. From the outside, it looked like a success. From the inside, it felt like being rescued. It is still a scar.

It took me years to see what that time gave me. I know what it feels like to carry a decision alone, to stay too long, and to find a way out again. It made me stronger, and more patient with people who stand where I once stood.

That is why I can help. Not because I have the answers, but because I have been there too.

Sebastian Schilling

05 Working together

Start with one Clarity Deep Dive.

One question, done properly. If it helps, we can continue from there.

Book a free first call

The Clarity Deep Dive

BeforeFirst call and preparation
The dayTwo to three hours together, ideally walking
AfterYour Clarity Memo within a week
Follow-upA second conversation two to four weeks later
LanguageEnglish or German
InvestmentOn request

Also possible

Strategic sparring

An outside view on your strategy, investor story or options, as a written review.

Ongoing counsel

Regular conversations through a decision and its first months.

Executive teams

The same approach for a leadership team facing a shared decision: individual preparation, a facilitated day together, and a written memo for the team.

Probably not the right fit if

you're looking for therapy or a quick fix,
you want someone to confirm a decision you've already made,
you'd rather leave the personal side of the question out.

Why "The Clarity Refuge"

The refuge isn't a place. It's time set aside, where nothing else gets in.

A few hours away from the screen and the calendar, long enough to hear yourself think, with someone listening closely.

06 Questions

Before you get in touch

Is this coaching, consulting or therapy?

It’s executive coaching with an operator’s view. I call it clarity counsel: the questions of a coach, the hypotheses of someone who has run companies, and the honesty of a peer. You make the decisions. It isn't therapy, and if something would be better served by a therapist, I'll tell you.

Who do you work with?

Senior executives and business owners facing a real decision in their company, their career or their life, and often in more than one at once. Most carry responsibility for a large team or their own company. I work with individuals and with executive teams.

How direct will you be?

As direct as you'd like. I ask you before we start, and we can adjust along the way.

What happens to what I share?

It stays between us. If I record our conversation, it's only so the memo is accurate, and the recording is deleted once the memo is written.

Where do we meet?

Always in person, ideally outdoors on a walk: on the North Shore, in Lynn Canyon or around Mount Seymour, or wherever suits you in Metro Vancouver. Otherwise somewhere quiet. For clients elsewhere in Canada, the US or Europe, I travel to you, or we meet when you’re in Vancouver.

What does it cost?

The fee is on request, and we talk about it in the first call. It covers the first call, the intake and my analysis, the conversation, your written Clarity Memo and the follow-up. For meetings outside Metro Vancouver, travel costs are agreed upfront. Strategic sparring, ongoing counsel and work with executive teams are priced individually.

07 Get in touch

What's on your mind?

A sentence or two is enough. You don't need the answer yet; a good question is a fine place to start. I read every message myself and reply within two working days with a few times for a first call.

sebastian@clarityrefuge.com