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, deepens into the philosophical and spiritual territory that underlies both in book three, Living Heart and Soul, and concludes with a practitioner guide, Coaching from the Heart, for those who wish to bring the series’ principles into their coaching and mentoring work. 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
Living Heart and Soul
Reflections on the Art of Living with Depth and Grace
Living Heart and Soul is the philosophical and spiritual foundation of the series — written for readers who have followed the earlier volumes to their natural horizon and found themselves standing before deeper questions. Where Books One and Two address how a person develops and how a person leads, this book asks who a person is, and how a life might be lived with genuine depth, grace and meaning.
The book begins from a simple observation: most people sense, at least occasionally, that something important is being missed. Beneath the surface of activity and achievement there is another way of living — quieter, richer and more fully human — that modern life rarely encourages us to find. Living Heart and Soul is an invitation to rediscover that deeper current. It does not require prior philosophical knowledge, nor does it advocate for any particular spiritual tradition. It asks only that the reader be willing to slow down, attend honestly to their inner life, and take seriously the questions that arise when the noise of striving fades.
The writing is the most contemplative in the series — intimate in voice, grounded in the author’s own experience, and enriched throughout by the kind of quiet authority that comes from a life attentively and adventurously lived. Together with the first two volumes, it completes an arc: from the examined individual, through the conscious leader, to the examined life in its fullest and most considered form.
04
Coaching from the Heart
A Practical Guide to Coaching with Authenticity, Depth and Grace
Coaching from the Heart is a practitioner companion for life coaches, mentors, therapists and other helping professionals who wish to bring the principles of the series into their work with clients. Where the first three books speak directly to the reader as an individual, Book Four turns outward — addressing those who hold space for others’ development and asking what it means to do that from a place of genuine presence, authenticity and depth.
This is not a coaching manual. It does not offer scripts, session formulas or competency frameworks. It is a book about what kind of person a coach needs to be — and what kind of inner work that demands. Its central argument is that the most transformative coaching does not come from technique. It comes from the quality of the practitioner’s own self-knowledge, emotional fluency and willingness to keep growing.
The book is grounded throughout in the author’s own coaching practice, illustrated with anonymised client portraits and personal anecdotes that show the principles at work in real sessions. It is written in the same reflective, conversational voice as the rest of the series.
