"Our double task is now to preserve and foster both biological evolution as Nature designed it and cultural evolution as we invented it." 

 Freeman Dyson, Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences, in his Edge essay "Biological and Cultural Evolution: Six Characters in Search of an Author."

"Alchemy: a power or process that changes or transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way… the practitioners of financial alchemy that transformed the world of money in the 1980's..." … Gordon Williams

Leadership Alchemy 

The world is awash with linear, theoretical and academic exhortations on what good leaders should do.  Most of it unfortunately may not be useful in a four dimensional and chaotic world.  

The real world is about continuous random action.  In particular our business landscape is non-linear, evolving continuously, and essentially chaotic in real time.

And the 'fuel' that drives all of this is human energy.  From how you feel to how you think and act - in fact every breath you take - is a manifestation of this universal energy.  There is no life or consciousness without energy.

In essence leadership is the act of managing complex, dynamic chaos.  To be effective we need to train and develop leaders to know how to act, not in the classroom, but in the real world.  Raphael Nadal is the master from whom much can be learned.

Raphael Nadal - the Perfect Alchemist 

Leadership alchemy is the mysterious process of thinking and acting successfully 'in the moment' and always for the first time. In fact we could say that leadership is nothing more than the management of non-linear evolutionary chaos.

Raphael Nadal is one of the finest exponents of this alchemy alive today.

Let's examine the key steps that he takes that we can emulate to generate our own leadership and team alchemy.

Everything is 'for the first time.' 

Every time Nadal serves, plays a forehand drive, a delicate backhand drop shot - in fact every time he plays any shot - it is always for the first time - a single moment in the continued evolution of the universe.  A moment never to be repeated.

Leadership is no different.  Every thought, every feeling, every action, is always 'for the first time.'

Nadal focuses on two dimensions of energy 

Everything Nadal does is related directly to two types of energy - potential energy and kinetic energy.

His potential energy covers three areas.  Physical fitness, mental acuity and essential on court skills.

His kinetic energy is the direct conversion of his potential energy into on court action.  One point at a time.  And feedback is immediate.  Either he wins or he loses the point.

Leadership is no different. The cycle is the same.  Build potential energy and transfer it to kinetic energy - observable action.

Nadal's alchemy is in the evolutionary algorithm 

Nadal's coaches and extended team are fully aware of the harsh and unavoidable effects of entropy, or the loss of energy and performance over time.  To stay on top of his game he must continually inject new energy both to compensate for the natural loss of energy due to entropy and for continually finding new and better ways of playing tennis.  

Effectively he is a continual learning machine, a master of the evolutionary process, the evolutionary algorithm.

The challenge for every leader is identical.  Find a way to evolve, or die.  It is a simple choice.

Nadal's Evolutionary Algorithm - Generating 5D Alchemy 

The evolutionary algorithm is without doubt the greatest magical power in our known universe.  It is the pure genius, the 'software' that has kept the universe evolving for 14 billion years.  Paradoxically this most powerful source of energy, intelligence, performance and leadership alchemy, remains largely missing in action in our modern leadership lexicon.

The incredible simplicity of the evolutionary algorithm belies both its genius and its power.  It has three simple and integrated steps.  Nadal uses them continuously.

Wherever you have repetition, variation and selection you must get evolution.  Not maybe but must.

In Nadal's world the energy algorithm is the secret to his incredible and evolutionary success.

We can summarise this remarkable energy cycle as follows.  Effectively he operates in five dimensions.  Four of space and time and a fifth dimension of energy, driven continuously by the evolutionary algorithm. 

For the successful leaders such as Musk, Besoz, Jobs and Gates, exactly the same principles and actions apply.  All four have one thing in common.  They understand and fully exploit the power of the evolutionary algorithm.

Summarising Nadal's high performance algorithm 

Nadal is clearly the master of the reverse entropy cycle.  Let's call it his alchemy cycle.  It contains the following integrated steps.

1. Continuously build and evolve potential energy.  This includes physical fitness, mental acuity and skills development.
2. Play the game, shot by shot.  Immediate feedback.  Converting his potential energy to kinetic energy.
3. Review, analyse and learn.  What is working.  What is not working.
4. Apply the evolutionary algorithm.  What needs to change?  What needs to be done better or differently?  Design the new simple actions that with repetition and hard work and practice will lead directly to the evolution of new intelligent thinking and intelligent shot making.
5. Execute the new actions.  Test if they are working.  If yes, start using on the court.

Applying Nadal's alchemy to leaders and their teams 

For all practical purposes tennis and organisational leadership are one and the same thing.

Both are based on action.

Both require the continuous growth of potential energy.

Both are subject to energy and performance loss due to entropy.

Both operate on complex, non-linear, competitive and chaotic landscapes.

Both convert their potential energy into kinetic energy in a five dimensional world.

Both can be measured by the success or failure of their application of their kinetic energy.  (Point, game, set and match results with Nadal, or kpi results with leaders and teams.)

Both will lose or go out of business if they do not evolve continuously through the application of the evolutionary algorithm.

Leadership alchemy and the three pillars 

The first step is simply to forget all the traditional, linear, conservative, confusing and impractical 'wisdom' you were ever given on leadership.  As you have probably realised by now, most of it doesn't work.

Remember.  Leadership is not a theory, it is an action, subject to all the laws of physics and the universal laws of evolution. 

As an action, leadership always takes place 'in the moment' and 'for the first time'.

To be effective and competitive a leader must know and practice the three core energy pillars:

• Continuously build potential energy, to overcome entropy.  Focus on physical, mental and requisite skills for the role.
• Convert to kinetic energy or action and evaluate quality of impact.
• Continuously review, analyse and improve performance through the studied and professional use of the evolutionary algorithm, the real power and energy that drives leadership success.