The New Alchemists: How Visionary People Make Something Out of Nothing

by Charles B. Handy

The world needs new ideas, now products, new kinds of associations and institutions, new initiatives, new art and new designs. But these new things seldom come from established organisations. They come from individuals - the New Alchemists. What drives people to create something from nothing? Is it ambition, the need for self-fulfilment? Is it to do with money, power, or even genes? Is there a mood of the time that encourages people? Can anyone do it? Charles Handy has talked to a range of extraordinary characters - from Trevor Baylis and Richard Branson to Jane Tewson and Terence Conran. And Elizabeth Handy has used her new style of composite portraits to highlight aspects of all the different alchemists in their particular environments. The New Alchemists is a fascinating and inspirational investigation into the creative and entrepreneurial process.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Entrepreneurship

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Charles Brian Handy was an Irish author and philosopher who specialised in organizational behavior and management. Among the ideas he advanced are the "portfolio career" and the "shamrock organization" (in which professional core workers, freelance workers and part-time/temporary routine workers each form one leaf of the "shamrock").
Handy was rated among the Thinkers 50, a private list of the most influential living management thinkers. In 2001, he was second on this list, behind Peter Drucker, and in 2005, he was tenth. When the Harvard Business Review had a special issue to mark the publication's 50th anniversary Handy, Peter Drucker, and Henry Mintzberg were asked to write special articles.
In July 2006, Handy was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Law by Trinity College Dublin.

Reviews

[Tony Lawrence]

Words by CH, pictures by Elizabeth Handy, an exploration of what makes business and social alchemists, i.e. successful serial entrepreneurs. Despite the relatively small London-centric sample, 3 behaviours are identified; Dedication, Doggedness & Difference ... and many other inconclusive factors, such as mentors, supportive education, leaving school early (not academic careerists), almost always creative & curious driven individuals, sometimes better at creating something from nothing than managing longer-term and wider growth.