Back to Basics

VICTOR KANNAN on going back to basics—a practical reset for leaders and seekers that renews intention and sharpens practice in work and life.

Every so often, whether in business, leadership, or inner life, we need to go back to basics. This practice helps us review, reset, and recommit to our best intentions and to renew our best practices.

Over time, even a healthy routine can become mechanical. As we age, the relevance of past good habits fades, and in the complexity of our lives, we lose sight of our primary goal. Gradually, we veer from our intended path. What began as a straight line toward our goal has slowly curved away from its target. Returning to fundamentals helps us straighten that curve and refocus on our true goals.

For a leader, going back to basics might mean re-examining purpose and objectives, reviewing and renewing the vision and mission statement, or re-evaluating stakeholder alignment. To make corporate culture thrive, we must revisit the values that once defined its character before complexity set in. The same is true for anyone who is practicing self-improvement or talent development. For a seasoned Heartfulness meditator, going back to basics could mean sitting once again with a beginner’s mind, free from expectations of inner peace or joy. It could also mean returning to the fundamental practices of relaxation, meditation, cleaning [a practice for releasing emotional impressions], prayer, and introspection exercises—doing them deliberately and consciously, with every step fully and properly incorporated, without haste, hurry, or casualness.

Returning to fundamentals helps us straighten 
that curve and refocus on our true goals.
 

Going back to basics is a smart strategy. It is about ensuring progress remains aligned and practices are followed correctly. A musician who has mastered their instrument still returns to scales. A top athlete revisits form. Likewise, every discipline, every craft, every life benefits from a deliberate pause—a reset that clears the accumulated noise and restores clarity. When we do this periodically, we rediscover something fresh, even if are supposedly adepts. We remember what truly matters and gain further clarity on what is important. Going back to basics also simplifies our lives and helps us stay focused on the important goals we set for ourselves.

A periodic exercise or habit of going back to basics arrests the inevitable onslaught of entropy. This process redirects our energies and removes entropy, making fresh waves of progress possible. We realign our intention and our joy in doing what we do.

In the corporate world, returning to basics has become a trend. Recently, under the new CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon has embarked on a large‐scale reset of its culture and operating model. He is returning Amazon essentially to what originally made it successful. According to recent reporting, Jassy has reinforced Amazon’s founding “Day 1” mindset and re-emphasized its original Leadership Principles, tying them directly to performance reviews and compensation. Similarly, when Nestle’s board selected insider Laurent Freixe as CEO in 2024, they noted a move “forward to basics” after years of acquisitions and diversification had left the company feeling adrift.

Many attend meditation retreats for these going-back-to-basics renewals. Even corporate heavyweights attend Heartfulness or mindfulness meditation retreats for periodic resets. Such retreats do more than any other back-to-basics exercise. They help us return to the center of our being and core of our principles before moving forward again with clarity, conviction, and confidence. We emerge from them with greater energy and enthusiasm.

Try this out—whether on your own or as a leader in your company or community—and feel the difference. Even one day of deep introspection and recommitment will be sufficient. If you cannot spare a day, choose a short, intentional reset—a quiet walk, a few lines in a journal, or a single deliberate pause. It will end in the unmistakable joy of a homecoming.

A periodic exercise or habit of going back to basics 
arrests the inevitable onslaught of entropy. 
This process redirects our energies and removes entropy,
making fresh waves of progress possible.
We realign our intention and our joy in doing what we do.