London-based start-up New Alchemists Limited is aiming to help hedge fund managers build high performing teams, and prevent interpersonal dysfunction from destroying value within their businesses.
New Alchemists describe their approach as focusing on the unsaid and the unconscious. Difficult conversations that would otherwise go unsaid are facilitated, and unconscious, counter-productive behaviours are addressed. Both the unsaid and the unconscious can cost a fund in a number of ways: causing high value people to leave, increasing ‘key man’ risk and making succession planning difficult, causing people to cover up mistakes therefore increasing the risk of unwitting non-compliance issues, or simply by distracting fund managers from their key investment roles.
Antony Shave, a former Royal Marine officer and McKinsey & Company consultant, and one of the founders of New Alchemists, says: ‘it might be counter-intuitive, but in many ways the environment in which a special forces team work is not so different from that of a hedge fund. Its full of very strong personalities, success is dependent upon those personalities working together effectively in high-pressure situations, and the costs of failure can be extremely severe. By combining very rare, Special Forces leadership experience with proven methodologies adapted from our McKinsey days, we can offer a unique way of helping hedge fund managers create high-performing teams that are more likely to deliver alpha, as well as preventing dysfunction from impacting on their results.’
