Books
Living from the Heart is the first volume in a four-book series that begins with the individual, moves outward into leadership in book two, Leading from the Heart, continues with a practitioner guide, Coaching from the Heart, for those who wish to bring the series’ principles into their coaching and mentoring work, and concludes by deepening into the philosophical and spiritual territory that underlies the series in book four, Living Heart and Soul. Together, the four books form a complete and coherent body of work.
The series is designed so that each book stands on its own — a reader can enter at any point and find value independently. At the same time, the four books reward reading in sequence, with each one deepening and extending the foundations laid by the previous volume.
01
Living from the Heart
Living with Presence, Purpose and the Courage to Be Yourself
Living from the Heart is a reflective, psychologically grounded work of personal development that guides readers through a structured process of self-examination, emotional maturation and purposeful living. It is written for anyone who senses that there is more to life than their current experience reflects — and who is willing to ask the harder questions required to find out.
The book is built around the HEART model — a five-stage developmental arc moving from Helpless through Engaged, Aware and Responsible to Transformed — which provides a coherent structure for understanding where a reader is and what growth might look like from that position. The model is woven through the entire text rather than presented as a self-help formula, giving the book intellectual substance and narrative momentum.
The writing is grounded throughout in the author’s own experience — at sea, in engineering consultancy, in senior emergency services leadership, and in years of coaching and mentoring. The result is a book that feels earned rather than assembled: reflective in tone, direct in delivery and marked throughout by the kind of quiet authority that comes from a life fully and attentively lived.
Also available: the Journal & Workbook
Living from the Heart — Journal and Workbook is a structured companion to the book, designed to be used alongside it. For each chapter, it offers a short orienting passage and generous writing space — a place to move from reading to reflection, and from reflection to change.
If the book asks the questions, the journal is where you answer them honestly.
02
Leading from the Heart
Leadership Without the Mask
Leading from the Heart makes the case that the most effective leaders are not those with the most sophisticated techniques, but those with the clearest and most honest understanding of themselves. It is a book about humanistic leadership — grounded in values, powered by empathy and committed to genuine impact on the people a leader is responsible for.
The book begins with a provocation: the old model of leadership, built on hierarchy, authority and compliance, is fading. In its place something more human is emerging — leadership that begins not with position but with self-knowledge, and that influences not through control but through trust, connection and respect. Drawing on the author’s own experience leading teams through high-stakes emergency operations and organisational change, the book speaks equally to seasoned executives, first-time managers and those who never sought leadership but find others looking to them anyway.
The writing is direct and reflective in equal measure. Each chapter closes with a structured reflection designed to help the reader apply the ideas to their own leadership experience. The Transformed stage of the HEART model, introduced in Book One, receives its fullest treatment here — explored through the lens of leadership as a practice of presence, integrity and service rather than authority.
03
Coaching from the Heart
A Practical Guide to Coaching with Authenticity, Depth and Grace
Coaching from the Heart isn't really a book about coaching techniques. It's a book about the person doing the coaching.
Good coaching begins long before the first question is asked. It begins with knowing who you are, learning to listen without judgement and meeting another person as a human being rather than as a problem to be solved. From there, coaching becomes less about having the right answers and more about creating the space in which someone can discover their own.
Drawing on decades of leadership, coaching and lived experience, Bernard Kates explores the inner work of the coach, the relationship between coach and client and the deceptively simple questions at the heart of lasting change: Who am I? What do I want? How can I get it?
This is a book for coaches, certainly. It's also for leaders, mentors, teachers, parents and anyone else who sometimes finds themselves helping another human being find their way.
Also available: Coaching from the Heart Reference Library
Coaching from the Heart — The Reference Library is the practical companion to Coaching from the Heart. Where the core book explores the person of the coach, the coaching relationship and the work itself, this volume brings together resources you can return to as your practice develops.
Inside you'll find material for reflection, preparation and continuing development, covering the heart of the coach, the heart of the relationship and the heart of the work, together with guidance on supervision, mentoring and continuing your own practice.
This isn't a rule book or a collection of scripts. Coaching from the heart depends on judgement, curiosity and the willingness to keep learning. Think of this volume as a companion to keep within reach — something to consult when you need a reminder, a question, a fresh perspective or simply somewhere to begin.
04
Living Heart and Soul
Reflections on Meaning, Love and the Mystery of Being
Living Heart and Soul: Reflections on Meaning, Love and the Mystery of Being begins with one of the simplest questions we can ask — and one of the most difficult to answer.
Why?
Why are we here? What makes a life meaningful? Does life need a purpose? What does it mean to live well, to love, to serve, to suffer, to lose and eventually to die? What can we know with any certainty — and what happens when we finally admit that we don't know?
In Living Heart and Soul, Bernard Kates explores these questions without pretending to have found the answers. Drawing on philosophy, spirituality, Buddhism, personal experience and nearly seven decades of being puzzled by life, he considers what some of humanity's oldest questions might mean in the ordinary business of being human.
Along the way, he explores meaning and purpose, service and love, freedom and responsibility, suffering and loss, grace and forgiveness, consciousness, mortality and the possibility that some mysteries don't need to be solved.
This isn't a book of doctrine, nor is it an attempt to persuade you what to believe. Socrates, Aristotle, the Buddha, the Stoics, existentialists, mystics and others appear as companions in the conversation rather than authorities with the final word.
Sometimes the most truthful answer really is, “I don't know.”
And that may be where the interesting part begins.
Living Heart and Soul is an invitation to slow down, look again and consider what matters — not in some abstract life, but in this one.
