There are many times in business where it feels like you don’t know where you’re going. Employee issues. Customers giving you grief.

It just feels like the formula isn’t working anymore.

So what do you do when it feels like a need for change somehow?

I take my clients back to their original principles and goals. Sometimes the goals have changed: “I’m not so sure that I really do want to grow the company larger than this.” “I may have been assuming too much about how big the market is.”

If that’s the case, it’s fine. Time to do some serious big-picture thinking. Maybe even some you haven’t done in a decade.

But I often find that my clients realize that most of the fundamentals haven’t changed. Especially core values and principles.

If you started this business with a commitment to treating a diverse workforce with dignity and respect, I would imagine you probably don’t want to sacrifice something that powerful.

What’s changed, perhaps, is how you want to achieve that.

Many people these days would call this pivoting the business. I think the word has become a bit too popular, though, and even an excuse for wandering aimlessly in search of find a magic solution.

I tend to use more basic words. Rethinking. Adapting. Because usually the solution is found to be 90% the same as what you’ve been doing, with some significant tweaks.

The most powerful thing is that you don’t want to lose hope.