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The Alchemist: My Leadership Identity Review

Helen Galiszewski

OGL 482: Pro Seminar II

Dr. Janice Lawhorn

Arizona State University

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The Alchemist: My Leadership Identity Review

Upon reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, I embarked on a journey that I had not

expected to correlate with my leadership courses here at Arizona State University or my

leadership experience in my field of work. This book hooks its readers on a voyage into personal

self-discovery by using symbolism to find more meaning in pursuing our dreams and facing our

fears. It pushes the readers to be fully immersed in the cultural boundaries of our society and

uses this symbolism to entice the audience to continue reading. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would

like this book because I had to force myself to get through the protagonist's background,

however, once the story developed it was hard to put it down. I would describe this story as a

book you would not think is your typical leadership self-help book, but more of a spiritual and

deeper understanding of how we as leaders can impact the universe. In this paper, I will be

discussing how impactful The Alchemist was to my work as an organizational leadership major

and provide examples of how this was applied in my review of this book.

Book Review

In this section of my paper, I will be conducting a book review of The Alchemist by

providing some background on this story and identifying themes that resonate with me as a

leader of the future. I will also be providing a recommendation on why I feel that this book

would be impactful to anyone pursuing a degree in leadership.

Book Description

The story begins with our protagonist Santiago, a young shepherd whose determination

for adventure and happiness only came at the terms of finding his “personal legend”, or true

purpose in life, that would ultimately lead him to the treasure of which he dreamed consistently.

We see Santiago go through many obstacles to find this treasure and throughout the journey, we
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also find that each encounter he goes through brings him much closer to what he had all along. I

would describe this book as a spiritual yet optimistic perspective on how we all have dreams that

we want to pursue and how the influences of those around us guide us to our ultimate

destination. What I liked most about this book was how the author made it abundantly clear that

the journey to our personal destiny is just as important as the destiny itself. We are all dreamers

in the sense that we all wish we had a personal guide leading us to our desired path, however, the

author empowers us just to look within ourselves, and in there, we also find the truth.

Book Recommendation

I recommend that this book would inspire anyone pursuing a focus on organizational

leadership studies. Not only does this book bring an enlightening point of view, but it also keeps

the reader hooked through the many plot twists while also bringing the reader to find their

purpose from deep within themselves. This book also teaches us to focus on living in the present

even when we wish that our dreams would just magically appear out of thin air. Santiago’s

journey is very relatable for anyone pursuing a leadership degree because, when interpreted, it

shows us that we all walk through different stages in our lives. The most important lesson to

remember is that we need to

Lessons Learned

Whenever I read a book geared toward leadership, I always want to find a few takeaways

that I can learn from. The following three lessons are the top three choices I have selected that

really stood out to me from The Alchemist and I provide proof from the literature to help support

my argument.

Lesson 1: Persevere and Be Present

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In my experience as an office leader for H&R Block, I knew that I had to overcome one

of the biggest obstacles I’ve ever faced: being the youngest leader within my group of peers. At

the time, I felt that I constantly had to prove that I was worthy enough to be a leader by

demonstrating that my knowledge, skills, and abilities would allow my office to reach the goals

given to us by corporate. There were moments that I wanted just to give up, but much like

Santiago I persevered and was able to see that I was allowing my emotions to get the best of me.

I believe that the power of perseverance allows us to not only grow as leaders but in general,

allows us to not give up on our goals. "Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm

interested only in the present. If you can always concentrate on the present, you'll be a happy

man” (Coelho, 1993, p. 80). Perseverance I feel ties into what I mentioned earlier about

maintaining a present mindset because there's no point in dwelling on our pasts or being anxious

about our future when we can focus on what we can control here and now.

Lesson 2: Find Perspective

Receiving guidance can be a long and difficult road depending on how influenced we are

from it. All it takes is one opinion or thought for us to completely change our mindset. While it is

okay to be receptive to advice, it is important to realize that it needs to align with our values and

passions for us to be successful in our leadership roles. I know that in the early stages of my

career, I would believe and dwell on the feedback from my peers and leadership team. Hanging

onto every word as if it were life or death. It wasn’t until I was actively in a leadership position

and had a great mentor who brought this quality out to me that I began to be more self-aware. “If

someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a

clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own " (Coelho,

1993, p. 25). It is so easy to want to be the people pleaser because we’re afraid of disappointing
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those around us, however, it is not healthy to live our lives through someone else’s perspective of

where they think we should be.

Lesson 3: Facing Our Fears

As leaders, we are often pushed to break free from our fears and be the strong defense

behind our organization. Whether it is a new role or a new project crossing into new uncharted

territory can be both exciting and terrifying at the same time. When Santiago had to make that

decision to leave Andalusia and leave everything, he knew to find this treasure and follow his

dream I could resonate with that initial ping of doubt. Not knowing what to do after having a

career for so long has been daunting to me as a leader. It wasn’t until I read this book that I could

understand the phrase the greater the risk the better the reward will be. "Tell your heart that the

fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it

goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God

and with eternity” (Coelho, 1993, p. 116). Fear is essentially a bigger obstacle than the obstacle

itself and it is up to us to determine which mountain to climb to achieve success in life.

Organizational Leadership Connection

Looking back on my academic journey here in this program, I can see some similarities

between the themes in this book and throughout the work I’ve completed thus far. Back in OGL

481, we learned about the importance of organizational frames and how to make better decisions

as leaders. A framework that I resonated with in this book was the symbolic frame. The symbolic

frame focuses on how myth and symbols help humans make sense of the chaotic, ambiguous

world in which they live (Bolman & Deal, 2022). They assist in the development of an

organizational culture that can be interpreted through internal and external communities and

shape interactions with a sense of purpose. Through this, we can find meaning behind the work
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we create, and as leaders, we can facilitate this through the ideas of emphasizing creativity and

flexibility. Coelho uses a lot of symbolism throughout this book to bring a deeper meaning to the

story and make us look beyond the words. Santiago’s sheep, for example, symbolize those who

are blindly unaware of their personal legends. Even the scenery when Santiago traveled through

the desert to get to the pyramids represented the difficulties and obstacles, we must endure to

receive our personal legends. Once we recognize our environment, we can look beyond the

surface to find signs of life even when we are too oblivious to see it. It was as if Coelho wanted

his readers to find a connection behind his protagonist's journey and that it was important to

reveal that his beloved treasure was there all along, but that Santiago needed to go on the

adventure to find it.

Learning Differences

This book differs from anything I have learned while earning my Organizational

Leadership degree because it brought the concepts of leadership without blatantly stating so.

Most of the textbooks we’ve read in this program have been more technical and concise whereas

in The Alchemist I was able to escape to a reality that went beyond my expectations. It also

incorporated a lot of spiritual and mythical elements which I enjoy when just reading for fun so

that element was refreshing to see in a leadership book. The author told a simple story about a

boy who moved through many phases of life and inspired his readers to find meaning within the

journey and apply it to their own lives.

Most Identified Part of the Book

The aspect of the book that I most identified with was the concept of dreams and how the

author took this theme seriously throughout the story. Of course, dreams ultimately represent a
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person's innermost desires. Throughout this story, we were able to feel which characters truly

resonated with them. When Santiago dreams about the hawk, the tribal Chiefland takes that as a

sign of an attack, which ultimately leads them to defend against the enemies in the oasis. Or

when Santiago was brought to the crystal merchant who was left with an unfulfilled personal

legend all based on fear of leaving his shop or making changes. It wasn't until Santiago came to

help him that he was able to start accepting changes even though he ultimately refused to go to

Mecca which was the merchant's dream. No matter what we decide we must be able to overcome

our fears to achieve our desires.

Leader Impact

Have you ever been so inspired by a book that it made the way you think change? The

Alchemist surely did this for me. While I am a leader by choice, I am also a leader by strength.

This book has made me feel more confident and the following section will highlight how much it

has impacted me and my leadership.

Leadership Impact

This book was very inspiring to my leadership style as it has allowed me to reflect on

what my personal legend is and has helped me understand the importance of not losing sight of

it. I would identify my personal legend as making a positive impact no matter what role I serve

within an organization. While I have not always maintained a leadership role, I feel that it is

important to recognize that even when I wasn’t an official “leader,” my abilities to effectively

lead and problem-solve still have made a difference.

How Does This Change My Career?

This book has allowed me to change my attitude when it comes to making decisions

about my future career as a leader. I understand that I may not be able to stay in my comfort zone
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with my current organization if I want to be able to be the leader I desire to be. I have learned

that letting go of my fears of rejection is vital if I am to ever pursue this career and that I always

need to be more open-minded to criticism and advice from peers and superiors in my field.

Question for the Author

Many of the leadership books out there are geared toward that self-help style, however,

what I love about Coelho’s writing is that it is geared more toward a self-problem style. There

are many questions that I feel that I can ask Coelho regarding his inspiration for writing this

book, but of course, I will not dwell on that. What I am dying to know is did Coelho himself

have an epiphany while writing this beautiful story? Was this book written to merely constitute

an argument that he needed to find his own personal legend or was he inspired by someone else’s

journey and wanted to help them through it?

Conclusion

As we bring this to a close, I hope that my insights on this book review have been eye-

opening and educational for anyone pursuing a career in leadership. So many elements of this

story brought a bigger purpose than just writing this paper for a grade. It truly reflected how

important it is to take the time to face our fears and pursue our dreams, while also being realistic

with ourselves and the expectations we have in our roles as leaders. To also never give up no

matter how difficult the obstacle may be and to accept the influences without losing ourselves in

the process. I highly recommend that you share this book with everyone you know because while

it takes a special person to be a leader, we must also remember not to lose sight of who we are.
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References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2022). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership

(7th ed.). Jossey-Bass

Coelho, P. (1993). The Alchemist (A. R. Clarke, Trans.). HarperCollins Publishers.