On this episode of The Great Guns Podcast, host James Scott sits down with former Royal Signals Regimental Sergeant Major Andy Moss to talk about transition, leadership, resettlement, entrepreneurship and the importance of understanding what you actually want from life after service.

Andy joined the British Army in 1995 with a childhood ambition to serve. What followed was a career of more than two decades that took him from the Royal Signals through training, bomb disposal support and university officer training, before eventually achieving the goal he’d set himself as a young soldier — becoming a Regimental Sergeant Major.

But reaching that goal presented Andy with another question:

What next?

Rather than staying simply because he could, Andy made the decision to leave while he still had the energy and ambition to build a second career.

What followed wasn’t a perfectly mapped-out journey.

Andy talks openly about not knowing exactly what he wanted to do, attending countless insight days, building a network, finding mentors and deliberately putting himself into situations where opportunities might appear.

One of those days was with Thames Water.

Andy nearly didn’t attend.

That decision ultimately led to his first civilian job.

Since then, his journey has taken him through operations management, defence consultancy, organisational development within the NHS and eventually into running his own leadership consultancy, Oakbridge.

Throughout the conversation, one message repeatedly comes through:

Nobody is going to care about your transition as much as you do.

James and Andy discuss why service leavers need to prioritise themselves, why narrowing down what you actually want can be more powerful than keeping every door open, the importance of mentorship and why the skills you’ve developed in uniform shouldn’t dictate what you do next.

They also explore leadership beyond rank, accountability, entrepreneurship and Andy’s belief that we should all understand the values and standards we are personally prepared to stand for.

This is a conversation about leaving well, backing yourself and finding your next North Star.

Takeaways

• Transition needs to become a priority before your final day in uniform.
• Create a resettlement plan and share it with your chain of command.
• Don’t continue behaving as though you’re chasing promotion when you’ve already decided to leave.
• Take advantage of the resettlement support, funding, courses and insight days available to you.
• Do something towards your transition every day.
• Go to events even when you don’t think they’re directly relevant — opportunities can appear where you least expect them.
• Build your network before you need it.
• Find a mentor who can challenge your thinking and help you see opportunities differently.
• Don’t try to sell yourself as four different things at once.
• Work out what you actually want to do and then go deep.
• Understand what a civilian role really involves before deciding it’s right for you.
• Your first job after service doesn’t have to be your forever job.
• Leadership is still leadership outside the military — but the way you lead may need to change.
• Accountability doesn’t require authoritarian leadership.
• Don’t be afraid of entrepreneurship or starting something of your own.
• Your second career doesn’t have to look like everybody else’s.
• Think about the life you want first and then build work around it.
• The Army’s values may have shaped you, but you also need to understand your own personal values.
• Ask yourself what you stand for, what you cannot ignore and what is non-negotiable.
• The standards you accept ultimately help define the culture around you.

Sound Bites

“The best thing I ever did was joining the Army. The second best thing I ever did was leaving when I did.”

“You’ve got to make a conscious decision that you’re crossing a line where you now need to prioritise you.”

“My mantra was: do something every day.”

“Go to them all. Even if you just take one thing away, it’s worth doing.”

“Everybody that leaves the Armed Forces should find themselves a mentor.”

“Really understand what it is you want to be.””People are people. Leading people is leading people.”

“Build your work around your life, not your life around your work.”

“What do I stand for? What are my non-negotiables? What can’t I ignore?”

“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.”

The Moss Matrix

One of the practical tools Andy shares in the episode is something he calls the Moss Matrix.

Take a sheet of paper and divide it into four sections.

1. Jobs You Enjoyed

Think about the roles and responsibilities during your military career that you genuinely enjoyed.

Was it:

• Training?
• Leading teams?
• Operations?
• Planning?
• Working outdoors?
• Developing people?

2. Jobs You Didn’t Enjoy

Be equally honest about the jobs that drained you.

Understanding what you don’t want can be just as useful as knowing what you do.

3. Things That Motivate You

Consider what actually drives you.

That might include:

• Helping people
• Working as part of a team
• Independence
• Adventure
• Family time
• Flexibility
• Creating something
• Learning

4. Things That Don’t Motivate You

Money might be important — but is it genuinely what motivates you?

What environments, responsibilities or ways of working do you want to avoid?

Then start mapping possible civilian careers against those four areas.

The objective isn’t simply to find a job.

It’s to get closer to understanding what kind of work actually fits the person you are now.

Find Your Own Values

Towards the end of the conversation, Andy raises another important question.

The Armed Forces give you values and standards to live by.

But what happens when you leave?

Andy encourages people to ask themselves:

What do I stand for?

What can’t I ignore?

What are my non-negotiables?

Military service may influence those answers, but your personal ethos should belong to you.

Understanding that can provide another North Star when rank, uniform and military structure are no longer there to provide one.

Connect with Andy Moss

LinkedIn

Oakbridge

TEDx Talk

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#BritishArmy #RoyalSignals #LifeAfterService