Many people think of alchemy as an ancient art, a precursor of science. Yet its quest is the same as ours—transmuting one thing into another. In each of us and our organizations there is lead that can become gold.

Alchemists don’t simply adapt to what is undesirable or limited. Neither do they seek to escape or deny it. Rather, they transform it.

In alchemy we learn to perceive what is not obvious on the surface, putrify what is no longer necessary, and precipitate missing elements. We acquire skills in fusing unlike things, incubating new forms, understanding symbols, energizing, connecting, and purifying.

Nothing has to be the way it is. It could just as well be some other way.

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