Start Me Over™ is a simple program that teaches returning service men and women the structure that creates community. Understanding 7 simple elements helps people acknowledge transition points as positive events, and can help posture veterans for success in the civilian world, in their communities, and in their new careers.
The program is based upon a construct designed to help Fortune 100 companies launch new products, and re-engineer brands in trouble. The construct defines seven elements that create a belief system that attracts others who share those beliefs, which builds community. The construct, called the primal code, helps build communities around brands like Apple, Nike, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Facebook and other ‘tribal’ brands.
Designing belief systems was first revealed in the book Primal Branding, written by Start Me Over creator Patrick Hanlon. “Personalities like Lady Gaga, John Wayne, J. Lo, Oprah, and Steve Jobs have a fan community of millions because people believe in them and their values,” says Hanlon. “We can deploy the same construct we use to build brands to help transitioning military personnel—and their families—rebuild their lives.
“Warriors are people in transition. They are moving from one community into another—from one system of belief into another belief system,” adds Hanlon. “The two certainly intersect, but many GIs returning home find they are moving from one extreme to another. You’re taught in the military that you must believe in certain things or you will die. Suddenly you find yourself back in the local neighborhood, and those things are not valid anymore. New things are important, there’s a new code in play.”
Hanlon cites the movie “Jarhead” where the character goes from a bloody Iraqi war zone, to wheeling a shopping cart next to his wife in the middle of Walmart.
Not a replacement for individual counseling or therapies, Start Me Over is an innovative interactive program that helps returning service men and women recognize the structure that creates community. Understanding some simple principles can help returning veterans understand how to engineer their success and better transition into the civilian world.
“Many people don’t understand the simple social structures that impact their lives,” explains Hanlon. “As a result, they drift and are knocked about by seemingly unseen forces. People who have served in our military deserve more than that.”
Start Me Over helps returning warriors and their families understand what makes up the things they believe in, how they can influence their own transformation, and how they can reintegrate themselves back into their community, their family and, in some cases, fit back into their own skin.
FOR MORE INFORMATION contact Patrick Hanlon hanlon@startmeover.com or 612-201-2232