What advice do you have on leadership in the civilian sector vs. the military? How should I prepare for leading in this new culture?

1. Recognize that entre' to private sector "leadership" is very different from the progressive promotion within the military.
2. Be prepared for your hard earned military leadership experience to be less than perfectly understood or appreciated.
3. Unless accepting a position of equivalent experience, anticipate having to "work back up" to equivalency.
4. Realize that "leadership" in the civilian world is often subjective. For example, being a "manager" means you're responsible for a team's performance...not by necessity that the team "must" follow your lead.
5. Be prepared to experience institutionalized politics, in-fighting, manipulation, shirking, favoritism and ambiguity. The "core ethics" of the private sector are increasing profitability and avoiding legal liability.
6. Anticipate "risk" to become a "bad word".
7. Assume "letter of the law" policies being enforced randomly, and often disproportionately.

On the positive side?

a. Expect to be directly rewarded for performance.
b. Enjoy more freedom to determine your own course, and often outside of any typical "pipeline".
c. Expect to find people with vast expertise as your peers, the higher you climb.
d. Enjoy the right to change the scenery whenever it makes sense.

Be ready to reinvent yourself

In the civilian sector it is wiser to be a positive, influential type of motivating leader rather than act like "King Dingaling" as we are expected to act in the Army. That shit can get you fired in the civilian sector.