Life after PM: The alchemist

If the four elements in alchemy are comprised of fire, water, earth and air then the alchemist himself is made up of four essential elements: curiosity, calculation, perseverance and passion. Such is the composition of this issue’s hero, Anthony Stevens. For in the evolution of the scientist, there was first the alchemist.

At university he studied biomedical science and microbiology, not to mention taking an important sideline into history. Though there is little material gain in such studies, he did it out of the love of knowledge. University was also a place to gain life skills, which would prove so crucial later. For knowledge is precious and, as he rightly calculated, money to live on can be acquired by many different means.

The first means was stockbroking in Norwich. There he worked with many interesting formulae — PEPs, ISAs — the back office laboratory was filled with alembics. But the hunger for experience to distil into life knowledge drove him forward to pursue a management course in that wondrous source of ingredients, Sainsbury’s. For four years he laboured with the diligence appropriate to a man of science before calculating a short run of management at B&Q would provide enough funds to finance his next great experiment: the pub. For there he applied his knowledge of retail to work in conjunction with that of another defining discovery — the distillation of beer.

At this he toiled, calculating what was needed to succeed in more than mere business, but in the creation of a fine elixir. Turning the business over to a friend, he left to ponder the science of brewing when the suave and persuasive Jim Trotter tempted Stevens to join him at Mercury Asset Management. The maths of science is the same as the maths of finance, so he joined on a temporary basis, but the stay lengthened as he undertook to automate the PM function. From there he spent four years at Mellon, distributing ideas to the entire PM world.

But one of the essentials of true alchemy is that man and woman work in harmony — as did Nicholas Flamel and wife Perenelle. Under the influence of the wise woman he married, Stevens followed yet another example: that of the great alchemist/reformer Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim — known, for short, as Paracelsus. He travelled. In the Antipodes, he found the evolution of his skills in another passion: poker. For to a man of maths, the science of poker, applying both calculation and people skills, is an ultimate joy. So he embarked on the life of a gambling man while the interest in microbrewing continued to ferment within.

One day he again met his friend Trotter, who enticed him to return to the PM fold. At Northern Trust, a place of family friendly repute, Stevens recognised a great opportunity, for gambling is not conducive to home life. For every fine alchemist knows a principle from which no proper endeavour can escape: the repetition of certain cycles for ultimate perfection. At Northern Trust he runs multiple teams, while at home that refinement has resulted in the ultimate affirmation of life: a child.

The work of an alchemist is to bring about change, the transformation of matter, refining elements to their most useful form. So he finds in the analytics of PM, so now this is carried forward as he experiments at home with the chemical operations of that most noble of elixirs — beer. But not just any beer, distilling the finest bitter. For the alchemist must have the courage to try different things, knowing all will be well with the application of appropriate skills.

Following the counsel of the great Paracelsus, he wants to take alchemy out of the laboratory and use it in the service of others. One day, no doubt another adventure awaits: the opening of the Stevens microbrewery.