March 31, 2025 • 52 mins
Baron Wright takes us on a fascinating journey from traditional IT consulting to pioneering tribal tech leadership at UMIT Technologies. His story begins with an unexpected plot twist—how one of his most difficult clients became the bridge to an entirely new career path with the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe. "Never burn bridges," Baron advises, "You just have no idea what the future could unfold."
The conversation quickly moves into the reality many businesses face today: they want to implement AI solutions but find themselves trapped by closed software systems that don't communicate with each other. "Business owners are asking a lot of questions that don't have prevalent answers right now," Baron explains, highlighting the tension between innovation aspirations and technological limitations. When confronting a software vendor about their AI strategy, he was shocked to hear them claim their industry would remain untouched by AI for at least a decade, a perspective he describes as "putting your head in the sand like an ostrich."
Perhaps most compelling is Baron's vision of how AI will democratize software development through no-code and low-code platforms. He shares the story of a business development professional with no coding background who created functional solutions after just two months with a tool called, Replit. "That's game-changing," he emphasizes. This democratization potentially eliminates the need for traditional software-as-a-service models entirely, representing what he calls a "truly profound" shift in how businesses operate.
Despite these transformative changes, Baron remains deeply optimistic about humanity's future alongside AI. His leadership philosophy has evolved from wanting to be "the guy talking the most in the meeting" to focusing on lifting others up, a perfect complement to how he views technology as an enhancement rather than replacement for human potential. As he puts it, our purpose will continue to evolve, but our fundamental humanity remains essential, "We're a resilient species... the best is yet to come."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome RVA to Inspire AI, where we spotlight
companies and individuals in theregion who are pioneering the
development and use ofartificial intelligence.
I'm Jason McGinty from AI ReadyRVA.
At AI Ready RVA, our mission isto cultivate AI literacy in the
greater Richmond region throughawareness, community engagement
(00:24):
, education and advocacy.
Today's episode is madepossible by Modern Ancients
driving innovation with purpose.
Modern Ancients uses AI andstrategic insight to help
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unique journey consultingpractice.
(00:44):
Find out more about how yourbusiness can grow at
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today.
If you or your company wouldlike to be featured in the
Inspire AI Richmond episode,please drop us a message.
Don't forget to like, share orfollow our content and stay up
(01:07):
to date on the latest events forAI Ready RVA.
Welcome to another episode ofInspire AI, where we dive into
the minds of trailblazersshaping the future of business
and technology.
Today, I'm thrilled tointroduce a guest whose impact
in the world of IT leadershipand business transformation is
(01:28):
nothing short of extraordinary.
Barron Wright is a visionarytechnology executive known for
optimizing customer satisfactionand engagement by designing
innovative solutions that alignperfectly with business
objectives.
With a track record of forgingstrong partnerships with
industry leaders, barron plays acrucial role in bridging the
(01:51):
gap between technology andbusiness strategy, helping
organizations achieve theirboldest ambitions.
Barron's expertise spanssecurity, cloud and SaaS
solutions, enterprise strategicplanning, it infrastructure and
business transformation, makinghim a sought-after leader in the
(02:11):
technology space.
But beyond his technical acumen, what truly sets him apart is
his ability to build lastingrelationships, mentor
high-performing teams and driveinnovation that fuels business
success.
Today, we'll explore Barron'sjourney, his insights on the
evolving IT landscape and howtechnology leaders can drive
(02:34):
meaningful transformation intheir organizations.
Please join me in welcomingBarron to Inspire AI.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Jason thank you so much and hello everybody.
Wow, I'm hearing those words.
I'm like who's this guy?
Appreciate the warm thoughtsthere.
Yes, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It is a little surreal being on a podcast,
right?
Well, thank you for joining ustoday.
Baron, can you start out bytelling us a little bit about
yourself, your business, yourinterest in AI?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, Well, I'm a technology entrepreneur, that's
for sure.
I didn't even know it atcertain points in my career, had
the privilege of going to workin a systems integration kind of
a managed IT firm back in the90s, before they call it managed
IT kind of a managed IT firmback in the 90s, before they
call it managed IT.
So I've been a technologyentrepreneur most of my career.
(03:30):
I am a husband and father ofthree.
I enjoy off-road motorcycleriding, which I actually got to
ride my dirt bike yesterday,which, well, sunday, and really
is my escape and a great hobby,yeah.
But my interest in AI really,from the from thus far, it's
(03:54):
been personal productivity andI'm intrigued, really, really
intrigued, at its impact in thesoftware development landscape
and how it's changing software.
I think you know so much of ofwhat what people are talking
about.
Talking about is lots ofproductivity and the personal
productivity I know it has beenfor me, but I'm really joining
(04:16):
other most world leaders andbusiness leaders and knowing
that what we are, what we'reexperiencing now, is truly like,
you know, the revolution of theinternet, you know, back in the
90s.
So it's a great time to be intechnology.
I definitely am optimistic, forsure, and you know, in terms of
(04:39):
really AI for me actually helpedme make a big helped feeling,
helped me making a big businessdecision last year around my
technology entrepreneurship likewhere I was headed.
I had a big fork in the roaddecision last year.
Ai was a great personal aid.
I had a really great network ofpeople that actually were
helping me with an importantdecision.
(05:00):
An important decision and then,in a lot of ways, ai, chat, gpt
in particular, was kind of afriend and a confidant on the
side that you could validateideas and shape ideas and it
really became honestly enough ofan impact where there was like
another person in my life and itwas also in some cases in most
(05:22):
of the case, actually, the greatadvice that I got from my
network of colleagues wasvalidation too.
So I'm really really it'sreally exciting to be in a place
of technology entrepreneurshipand having this tool available.
It's mind boggling but reallyexciting available.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
It's mind boggling but really exciting.
Yeah, it definitely elevatesthe human capabilities and I,
like your your statement ofyou're an optimist about this
technology gives gives me asense that you know you see it
as being a tool to unlock humanpotential, more than replace it,
which is a great thing.
It's very powerful.
It supports our productivity ineveryday life these days and I
(06:09):
think it's a it's a greatconnection you made for yourself
.
It is another thing that youcan fall back on and and
leverage as a key partner inyour life, yeah, which I think
that's that's like step one forsure is making turning it into
the most productive personalassistant.
(06:29):
Yeah, yeah, so being able toleverage its key skills to do
that is a major undertaking.
It teaches you a lot about theAI technology and it allows you
to expand your thinking beyondthat.
So that's great that you'rethere.
Yeah, can you tell us?
So what inspired you to startUMIT Technologies?
(06:53):
What gap in the market are youaddressing?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well.
So UMIT Technologies isactually a byproduct of the
company that I founded, whichwas VectorPro.
Vectorpro was my secondentrepreneurial venture, so
VectorPro was acquired by theUpper Mattapani Indian Tribe.
So UMIT is an acronym for theUpper Mattapani Indian Tribe.
Which the Upper Mattapani Tribeis a is a very much an
(07:22):
entrepreneurial driven, triballyowned tribal nation Right.
So the Upper Mattapani IndianTribe received its sovereign
nation status in 2019.
And subsequent to that, hasbeen growing.
Various enterprises within thetribe has been growing various
(07:44):
enterprises within the tribe.
The tribe started a healthcaresystem which has been producing
not only well-needed medicalservices for tribal citizens as
well as the community in KingWilliam, but also is a revenue
stream for the tribe to do otherentrepreneurial things.
So from my perspective, I washappily running my managed IT
(08:08):
firm.
I have been in the ITconsulting space most of my
career.
As I mentioned earlier, I was abusiness owner with five.
We were a total of fivepartners.
For about 18 years we weretogether.
We were doing managed ITservices as well as systems
integration, cisco networkingand Cisco VoiceOver IP was a big
(08:31):
initiative back in the 2000swhen VoiceOver IP was becoming a
real thing and sort of changedthe landscape of how businesses
used and implemented phonesystems.
So my journey took me to a placewhere I needed to start another
business and I was out therelooking.
I'll never forget it, too,because I ship shaped my
(08:53):
LinkedIn profile and dusted offthe wealth, had a resume created
, spent good money actually tohave a professional help me
write that, and because I hadbeen a business owner Right, and
you don't really do your ownresumes when you're in that
position and it didn't feelright.
I was out looking for a job and, honestly, it just didn't sit
right with me.
I'm like you know, my truecalling really did come out,
(09:16):
like I really really liked thenotion of a lot of people saying
I want to go into business formyself so I can be my own boss.
You know, you always have aboss.
I mean, your customers are yourboss, right, but it is
something that there's a uniquedrive that the entrepreneurial
spirit.
So Vector Pro was my secondversion.
(09:39):
I was a sole proprietor.
Just me kind of want to slowgrowth.
The space that we fit is reallywas small to medium businesses.
Giving them providing an ITleadership.
Keep the lights on IT is a lotof what I like to call it, but
also coupling that with you knowwhat are some decisions that I
should be making in my business.
(10:00):
Cybersecurity is a big thing.
Outside of AI, one of thenumber one things that
businesses are concerned aboutthese days is cybersecurity and
most people don't do it right.
I mean, you can be spendingmillions of dollars on
cybersecurity and there's stillrisk right, you can't make the
risk go away.
But the need that we werefulfilling at VectorPro was
well-run IT with an enterprisementality, well-run IT with an
(10:23):
enterprise mentality,cybersecurity tools kind of
built in and then fractionalleadership.
That kind of went all into apackage.
So you know about eight or 10clients that I had that was in,
that was, and I had two otheremployees in the business and
then the tribe approached me andthat the Upper Mattify tribe
approached me to acquire thebusiness but wanted me as a part
(10:47):
of it.
Right, the business wasn't bigenough to just, you know, set
into the sunset.
So UMIT Technologies was reallythat formation of an
entrepreneurial tribal nationwanting to do more, more lines
of business, and so we'recapturing that spirit of
entrepreneurial drive growth,and now I have a business
(11:10):
partner that's funding growth ina really exciting time.
Cybersecurity and AI is prettymuch what we talk about today.
Honestly, you know, theinteresting thing about AI now
is well, you know, I sort of putdata in that same thing.
Right, that's really ultimatelywhat cybersecurity is
(11:31):
protecting.
Sometimes we think of it justas malware and viruses and
things like that the classicdefense.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
But cybersecurity is also encapsulating data.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And AI has a really strong sort of a vacuum effect,
like where is my data going?
You know so that datagovernance in AI is a huge issue
in IT infrastructure concepts,which you know sort of the
day-to-day keep the lights on IT.
I like to call it about how doI protect the data.
You know I want to use chat GPT.
(12:03):
I want to use Microsoft Copilot.
Is my data safe?
Most frequent question thatcustomers are asking me now is
my data safe if I use this tool?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So yeah, I would love to be a fly on the wall when
you answer that.
It's a great cross-sectioncybersecurity and AI and such a
compelling backstory of how thathappened.
I guess it's quite a reminderthat there are.
You know, unexpectedrelationships can lead to
meaningful transformations.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, for sure it does remind me Sorry, go ahead.
I'm going to tag on one littleremark there because actually
the backstory of therelationship there was one of my
more difficult clients over theyears in my career as an IT
entrepreneur and a businessowner and really a day-to-day
(12:59):
technical practitioner I was adeliverer of technical services
to my clients.
Technical practitioner right, Iwas a deliverer of technical
services to my clients.
This person often I would leavetheir office often bewildered,
kind of wondering where do Istand with this person?
Just one of those kind of toughcookies that you know, hard but
(13:21):
fair ultimately.
But one of those managersleadership leaders that was
always had you kind of guessinga little bit on your heels kind
of a thing and I honestly Inever knew where I stood.
I would leave the, leave hisoffice, sometimes frustrated
sometimes honestly demoralized,like wow, you know make a
mistake.
Um, he was pretty hard on youwhen you made mistakes and
things like that, but we alwayswe were together 10 or plus
(13:41):
years.
Um, this person who I sort ofwant you know where do I stand
with them actually was theperson to who recommended me to
the tribe.
He's a tribal, he's a NativeAmerican upper Maniponite
citizen and went out on a limbto refer me.
So it is one of those thingsthat sometimes even the most
challenging people, difficultpeople, hard on you, people who
(14:04):
are hard on you not to soundnegative, but like those folks
who cause you to think and maybeadd some stress in your life,
you know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I could have easily just written them off.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And there was a part in me that actually kind of was
questioning like wow, like youknow, I mean I it was, it was,
it was.
It was truly amazing to havethat type of referral.
It's literally changed thetrajectory of my life.
Come from a person.
It the the.
(14:36):
Ultimately now, the questionthat I can answer is that all
those years he did have a lot ofrespect for me.
I just never quite knew it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Some people have trouble expressing their
feelings.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And you know empathetic ways.
Yeah, yeah, and you know he'sprobably a business owner, maybe
definitely a leader of thecompany, and took it very
seriously.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
So you know business is business to certain people.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, and then, but to literally have that.
So, man, man, I'm telling youthat is a major life lesson to
never burn a bridge even if youdisagree with somebody, right,
even if you part ways like don'tburn the bridge, man, because
you just have no idea.
I went through transformationin my life.
He went through separate trance.
We were completely out in theuniverse, on totally different
(15:23):
paths, and then the worldbrought us together just by a
phone call.
We crossed pat, I crossed acommon, uh, you know person in
both in our network.
I was actually doing a salescall and, uh, that commonality
brought me back to a phone callwhich started that.
So don't ever burn thosebridges, man.
You just don't know what thefuture could unfold and it and
(15:44):
it's an amazing place that we'rein today.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So yeah, a hundred percent.
Yeah, you need your networkAbsolutely To grow your career.
You cannot do it alone aroundhere, absolutely.
So all right, that's really agreat add-on.
Thank you for sharing.
Can you tell us a little bitabout how your leadership
approach evolved with the rapidadvancement of technology and,
(16:07):
lately, considering theevolution of AI?
How has it evolved?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, I don't think I would say my leadership has
changed because I'm.
I really am.
I mean my leadership stylechanged on its own.
We were talking earlier aboutjust, uh, professional
development books.
I really am.
I wasn't always this leader,because I always have.
I have been a natural leader,but I was oftentimes I wanted to
(16:34):
be.
It was, it was unintentionaltalents coming out and
personality, but I often was, Iwas proud to be, you know, the
guy talking the most in themeeting, or maybe you know
having the best ideas, or beingthe center point of the guy who
had the subject matter knowledgeand so on and so forth.
(16:54):
And you know that's one way to.
That's leadership.
That's not leading a team,that's leading you.
You know an initiative or aproject or a sale, and so my
leadership, honestly, like I had, my leadership has evolved to I
am not the most importantperson on the team.
(17:16):
I have to lift others up rightand it is that's a.
That's a personal developmentthat has just come with age and
wisdom and hard knocks.
I wish I had it earlier.
So I would say the my, you knowmy career and these experiences
and getting getting runninginto some brick walls, to having
(17:37):
hard times, you know, losing ajob and being faced with you
know a really really do I wantto go get a job or am I going to
start this other business, kindof a thing those things really
shake you up and has changed it.
So lifting others up, being anencouraging leader, is really
(17:59):
what I do now, and also now,though, we have this backdrop of
AI and these game-changingtechnologies.
So the encouraging part,lifting people up part I think
now I'm weaving that into theday-to-day conversations of back
(18:22):
to AI being a tool for personaldevelopment and a tool for
efficiency, personalproductivity.
That's kind of how I weave itin, like making sure that people
are using it to improve theirlives in any way they can.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
But, simultaneously.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
You know how is your personal life or how are your
hobbies.
You know talking with employeesabout.
You know their careeraspirations.
They're in a position wherethey don't love.
If you don't love, at least youknow 70% of your job.
You're probably in a wrongposition and there's always 30%
(18:58):
of crapola that goes with a job.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
So Dole sucking work.
I like to say yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
But I do feel like that's kind of where I am.
Um, I I don't, I don't, I don'tthink AI has quite, but we
don't know right now.
Like there is, there'ssomething else coming quickly,
um of of what AI.
I mean kind of, uh, we're aMicrosoft, we do a lot of
Microsoft partner work, cloudservice provider, so Microsoft's
(19:27):
pushing, you know, copilot.
It's interesting how that mixesin the world, you know,
alongside ChatGPT, which is, youknow, encouraging the use of
and spending money on thoselicenses, right, I mean,
microsoft the chat, the Copilotlicense is more expensive than
your average, your day-to-dayMicrosoft.
You know, microsoft the chat,the co-file license is more
expensive than your day-to-dayMicrosoft productivity your
Microsoft 365 license it'sactually more expensive.
(19:49):
So, being willing to invest ina technology tool that's there
to make the people better, moreproductive, right?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Yeah, it's definitely a force multiplier.
Yeah, it's definitely a forcemultiplier.
Yeah, yeah, and and uh.
You know I every everythingthat you're saying there totally
resonates with me.
I even feel like ourbackgrounds are similar.
Prior to changing my worldviewthrough enterprise lens, I was
working for a small, mediumbusiness consulting firm in
(20:22):
Dallas and it's's closed downsince.
It's called Tech Metrics and wewere largely a Microsoft shop
and we had our challenges withour customers and we each had to
figure out our leadershipstyles in this organization.
At the time, I was the guy thatwas a senior consultant and had
(20:49):
the very, very much like Ishould be the center of
attention, I should be the onespeaking here.
And you know, fast forward 15years and you've got the idea of
servant leadership as a primarygoal in everything that I do.
When I support someone orsomething, it's you know what,
(21:11):
what can I, what am I here for?
It's not me, me as the centerof attention, but it's you know
what can I do to add value tothis situation or this person's
life?
And so, yeah, what you saidreally resonates with me and I
really appreciate being able toreconnect with those feelings.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
It has to be genuine too, though it can't just be the
cat, the proverbial cat poster.
You know the mission statement.
I love that you remember thatcat poster where he's like
hanging on and like thoseproverbial missions that it has
to be.
You definitely have to believeit, you do have to believe it.
You know it's even with apartner, a spouse, and you don't
(21:49):
believe it, Right?
I mean it's yeah you just that,that that speaks into the power
of change and personal personaldevelopment.
We can change ourselves.
So, yeah, that's been a huge,huge bit for me.
Thanks for sharing that too.
Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, I love authentic leaders.
That's that's important.
And you get the sense afteryou've been around several
flavors of leadership for longenough recognize when they're
faking it, if you will All right, so tell me a little bit more
about U-MIT Technologiesintegration business strategy
(22:26):
and how does it drive innovationand efficiency.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah Well, as I said, our kind of our go to market
strategy is managed IT Right.
So I like to call it the keepthe lights on IT Right.
You, everybody, needs acomputer on the desk Mac or
Windows.
It's got to be managed, patch,cyber, secure, you know, blah,
blah, blah.
So there's that general sort ofkeep the lights on IT.
We do that well actually.
(22:49):
And what's amazing is when youdo that well, nobody's really
talking about all the fussinessdown there.
It gives you time truly toelevate your conversations.
So part of our service deliveryis also kind of a fractional
leadership.
We don't exactly call it well.
I guess it kind of says in ourmarketing materials you know a
(23:09):
fractional leader so, and wedon't charge for those hours.
At some point if it turns into abig project or something like
that.
You know we have provisions,but hey, if I can have a seat at
the table like myself or othersenior members of the staff, if
we can get a seat at the tableof a management meeting, that
(23:31):
where you're not fussing aboutopen tickets and broken
computers and you know all thosethings that that are just kind
of boring it stuff.
that's where the really coolbusiness problems come up.
In fact, that meeting Imentioned to you earlier, uh, an
organic meeting, evolved around, um, uh, the ceo of this, of
(23:53):
this client, one of our clients,is just a really great thinker.
He's very simple in hisapproach.
He was just asking lots of whatifs and he had several members
of the technology team myselfbeing one of the having kind of
that proverbial seat at thetable, having kind of that
proverbial seat at the table,and so what's really cool about
(24:17):
having like a foundational,foundational role in doing that
well and then being willing toextend ourselves into these
leadership conversations.
That's where we're seeing thewheels start to spin and there,
and and business owners areasking a lot of questions.
Honestly that I don't thinkthere's very, there's no
(24:39):
prevalent answers right now.
Here's an example A lot ofbusinesses now run on software
as a service systems.
Right, they're industryspecialized.
We all know QuickBooks andthings like that that are that
are unique across.
I'm sorry, you know they'reacross a lot of industries but
then there's veryindustry-specific software
(25:01):
platforms.
This particular client that I'mtalking about is in the medical
transportation and uses asoftware system that does
computer-aided dispatch or CADsoftware system that does
computer aided dispatch or CAD,and so the CAD puts the trucks
on the road to go pick up thepatients and you know it
(25:22):
schedules employees, so on andso forth.
But they're they're a captive.
That software, as a servicesystem, has all the data.
It's the ERP for the medicaltransportation company.
So fortunately it's a goodsoftware system, right, it works
, but unfortunately it's aclosed system.
That it's.
It is an ecosystem, its ownecosystem, and so how do you get
(25:45):
information in and out of that?
Um, you know you hear thisphrase of api integration right,
software systems beingintegrated with one another, but
that's hard, it's clumsy a lotof times.
So the conversation was well, Iwould like to have AI helping
me answer my telephones and, youknow, can it do a lookup and
(26:09):
give a customer a ride.
So you're starting to see whatthe Microsoft CEO has been
speaking about, of the AI layer,these AI bots that are and this
is now becoming commonconversation amongst business
leaders.
They're hearing the podcast andnow they're asking these
(26:30):
legitimate business questions totheir tech teams and we don't
have good answers because it'scaptive in this software as a
service, you know, kind of aclosed system.
Right, the data is in theapplication.
How do I bridge?
You know how do I shim an AIlayer in between them?
(26:51):
So that's what I'm seeing a lotof like exciting ideas
innovative leaders are coming upwith these ideas.
And then, actually, unless youown your own software which most
businesses don't right Mostpeople have gone out to the
software as a service.
If you happen to be with asoftware as a service provider
who's innovating with AI, wellthen great.
(27:12):
Be with a software as a serviceprovider who's innovating with
AI?
Well then, great, I mean.
But if you're with one thatdoesn't have AI, an AI layer,
you're kind of stuck with thembecause they also have a closed
you know, a closed system.
So what I'm seeing now, what'scausing my wheels to spin, is
like oh wow, how do I?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I mean for us as an infrastructure company.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
We've put ourselves in the position where we have a
seat at the table.
Are these areas where I shouldbe looking at for UMIT
technologies as innovativeopportunities, right?
And do you even call itsoftware development?
Right?
That's a whole you know,because can't the AI write its
own software development?
(27:57):
I'd love to open up that kindof conversation because that to
me, is one of the mostintriguing.
But it's exciting and then allof a sudden it can also quickly
turn kind of frustrating,because I don't know about you
but when you see all thesesoftware systems.
I was talking to a friend acouple of months ago and he was
(28:17):
a business owner.
He does, he manages apartmentsor you know, multilevel housing
and so property managementcompany.
Sorry, I was having a hard timegetting that out and he's like
you know, he was counting on hishand and he went to two hands
of all the software systems inhis ecosystem.
None of them talk to each other,you know, and so I really think
(28:41):
this, this AI layer, whetherit's integrating software or is?
It replacing software like that.
You know the software as aservice that we have of what we
know today, because at thispoint now.
I've been in enoughconversations to see that it's a
barrier, like we know the AI,we know it's there, business
(29:02):
owners now are, and thisparticular guy that I'm talking
about is willing to spend money,right, because he also knows
that it's cost deferred.
Now, in some cases, this is thedangerous side of AI.
It is job replacement, right,there is automation that can
replace humans, but as abusiness owner, he's got to be
looking at that too.
Right, if his costs are youknow, how can he optimize that
(29:24):
business?
So that's what I'm seeing a lotnow.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Some of them are unanswerable questions now, some
of them are unanswerablequestions.
That's wild.
So you have a customer, theyhave some off-the-shelf solution
, software as a service.
It does not integrate withother systems.
Well, api integrations thatthey have documented are
(29:52):
outdated, kludgy, um.
And to tie those api requestsinto some ai platform in order
to make use of the data which isrightfully theirs, but exactly
actually not.
Yeah, yeah, um, yeah.
So you know.
(30:12):
So many things come to mind hereAt this point.
I would be looking forcloud-based technologies to
replace whatever got them stuckin that world an Amazon web
service package that does whatthey want it to do for their ERP
(30:36):
.
I'm not terribly familiar withERPs, but I did definitely work
with an ERP back when I was inthe Microsoft server
infrastructure world as well, inthat consulting role I referred
to, and it's not a friendlysystem.
So I would say, yeah, we couldgo on and on, but if you could
(30:58):
find a solution that'scloud-based and one in which
that does integrate with othertechnologies very easily and
this is forward thinking withthe AI tech, then you might have
a much easier set ofcircumstances to deal with a
roadmap such as that.
But it does take work to gofrom a data center co-located
(31:24):
version of what they do as aprimary resource of revenue to a
cloud-based technology.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, what's interesting is I have a close
relationship.
We helped this particularclient onboard into this system.
It was a pretty long journey,probably a six-month journey,
leaving another software as aservice system going to this one
.
It is a better piece ofsoftware, there's no doubt there
(31:53):
are lots of value has come fromit.
But it's that lock, thatlandlocked element.
You know that.
And they do offer some again,some APIs.
They just take a long time readonly copy of the data so you
can get to the data, so on andso forth.
So there's something there.
So I was actually having a talkwith this guy, right, this is
(32:15):
the software as a service systemthat my client depends on and
we got through some of the brasstacks of a couple incidents and
what's the status on this, thatand the other.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And I was asking him hey what's your strategy with AI
?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Immediately, you could tell it was a Zoom call.
Immediately, the count haschanged.
Oh, no, no no, no, no, no aithis industry.
It'll never happen to thisindustry for 10 years.
So here you had a companyleader of a software company,
whom, whom my client depends on,right and immediately it was oh
no, no, no, we're different.
(32:47):
This industry is not going to beimpacted by ai.
It'll never.
It'll never, like literally thewords, like it'll never be
there kind of a thing, likeit'll never happen.
And I go to say now, I'm nevershocked, but I was kind of taken
back Like, really you do?
Do you really think that thisindustry is impervious from
(33:09):
these forces that that are atwork?
Um, which you know?
I mean, that's one way to do itright Put your head in the sand
like an ostrich and just ignoreall these forces and hope it
doesn't impact your software.
But here I am representing aclient that's like trying to
innovate, like you know, andAllroads led to this software.
(33:32):
So it's like like, um, yeah,it's it was a closed-minded
perspective um which I was kindof shocked, actually a little
bit, but I do you know nothing.
Not much shock, see these days,but it was.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I was surprised I see , yeah, I would politely rebut
that as well and say I get it.
No, you haven't been exposed tothose.
You know the risks in thatthinking yet, but it is a
naturally disrupting technologyand it is going to impact all
(34:08):
industries.
It's only a matter of time.
Industries.
It's only a matter of time.
And so, you know, as innovators, we need to be thinking about
the future before the futuregets us and and you know, pulls
us out of the sand.
I love the ostrich analogy.
I always say that to people,and not to people, but about
people that choose to look theother way and don't, don't
(34:33):
accept the, the reality in whichyou know hate to say it, but is
a well-framed one at this point, and if you're not paying
attention, then you've got.
You've got to, uh, startsometime.
And whether it's a it's afriend that wakes you up to it,
or a business, a bad businessdecision that wakes you up to it
(34:53):
, or a business, a bad businessdecision that wakes you up to it
, it will happen, so anyway.
So tell me a little bit of ananecdote here, if you were to
share some of your insightsabout some of the more exciting
AI advancements you're lookingout for and watching and seeing.
How do you see them influencingbusiness in the next five years
(35:16):
?
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Well, this notion of no code or low code or an AI
layer the Microsoft CEO has beentalking about, essentially, an
AI layer, removing software as aservice.
We talked a lot about that,right, the closeness of a
software as a service platformof businesses.
Once you make a decision on one, you're captive to that.
(35:40):
Well, what if you could?
Businesses could write theirown software in a cloud
environment.
Right, microsoft is going bigin cloud, same with AWS.
You don't need the software asa service or you don't need a
team of programmers to to createthe software that runs the
(36:01):
business that makes a decision.
That, to me, is absolutelyprofound.
I mean the investments that.
I mean Microsoft is a softwarecompany and to hear the CEO
speak is truly profound, knowingthat this entire layer they
(36:22):
don't get it right and softwarechanges as we know it could wipe
out.
You know an entire company,like you know a large software
giant.
So that's that's where we areand it is truly profound.
And when you hear businessleaders saying they want to get
more out of their software andthen that ostrich software
(36:45):
development company, right,saying no, we'll never, we don't
need to do that, it'll never,it'll never happen, what do you
think?
You know those business leadersare going to go towards the no
code, low code.
Let me just tell my AIinterpreter chat GPT.
Let me just talk to it.
I mean, who's to say youcouldn't go home?
You know, riding in your carand instead of listening to an
(37:08):
audio book, you're having aconversation with your AI
interpreter and it captures allthese ideas and, honestly, this
client that we've talked a lotabout, he's an innovative
thinker and goes into theseplaces where he just has idea
after idea after idea and that'sa very possible reality pretty
(37:34):
soon.
There's tools out there.
I have a good friend who'sactually coming to U-MIT
Technologies, so we have ournext hire is a really powerful
business development leader, hasexperience in this space and
has.
He was.
He was in a position ofmarketing business development,
(37:56):
roadma mapping and then thereally smart software developers
were.
You know, he was interfacedwith funding and these were
large, you know, multimilliondollar investments and started
dabbling around with Replit,which is a no-code, low-code
tool, which is a no-code,low-code tool, and here you had
(38:20):
a business dev guy a biz dev guyActually.
They had used the tool for acouple of months and were able
to produce real solutions, andthey are not software developers
.
That's game-changing man.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
That is game-changing , that's game changing man.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
That is that to me is you know, truly the
democratization of software.
If anybody can have anysoftware that they want, that's
just.
To me that's mind blowing.
Now I'm sure it's terrifyingfor the software developers of
the world.
Right, that is one of thosethings that change the landscape
(38:57):
of jobs in technology.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
So yeah, yeah, it certainly is a bit scary.
You know I manage softwaredevelopment teams.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
My company and you know no one's shaking in their
boots yet, but we're, you knowwe're.
We're thinking about how toleverage these tools and how to,
how to build efficiencies withthem and get to the to the
creative spaces of softwareengineering.
Right it's?
It's interesting how we'rehaving this conversation about
(39:33):
no code, low code.
There's another term for it,called vibe coding.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
I just very recently published a podcast episode on
vibe coding.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It gives a depiction of what it's like for software
developers and what the decisionmatrix looks like for will it
replace them, will it justenhance their abilities?
And you know I won't give youany more details about it, but
it's definitely worth a listen.
I do believe that you know notto harp on this too much more,
(40:08):
but I do believe thateverybody's going to be capable
of coding.
You don't have to just beexperimental and somebody in
technology.
At some point it will become sodemocratized that you can just
speak to your computer andpublish some new web app.
Yeah, uh, you know I'veexperimented with some of those
(40:29):
things and it it will write upan entire uh back end.
For you know what it's worth todo.
Anything you want it to.
Some of the coding programming.
Well, some of the programminglanguages have to be really well
understood.
You can't tell it to go andcode in like Erlang or something
(40:50):
like that, because there's nota lot of data examples on it.
But it'll do Python and Nodeand JavaScript and Java and Go
very well.
There's so many examples outthere and it's so fluent in
those things that I absolutelysee it replacing a large portion
(41:11):
of the developer role in thefuture.
Now you can type in or evenspeak to a computer program like
Replit.
There's a Claude one that I'verecently used, there's the
Copilot.
There's plenty of examples thatwill just build this
application for you, and it'snot going to be perfect because
(41:31):
it needs time to be refined, butit's definitely making a splash
and it's only going to continuegetting more and more capable.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
I'm sure that's a passionate topic for you, right
being in the space and yeah, Ilook to the future.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
I will not stick my head in the sand.
I say this stuff is coming, andif I decide to not deal with it
now, then I could easily bereplaced by somebody who is
willing to deal with it now.
Well, that's why you're here onAI, ready, doing this,
challenging the mainstream or atleast the non-innovative
(42:13):
thoughts, so it's awesome thatyou're out here doing this and
advocating for it yeah, thisorganization is definitely an
advocate for the future and wewant to embrace the
opportunities and and shepherdthose that are willing to to
experiment and then also helpthose that aren't yet willing to
(42:34):
experiment to realize thepotential.
So, yeah, it's great, it'sgreat to be here.
Yeah, all right.
So, thinking about a little bitmore in terms of how AI is
becoming more sophisticated,what would you suggest for
businesses to ensure that thehuman element remains a core
(42:55):
part of the innovation anddecision-making?
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Yeah, that's an interesting topic because it is
sort of the fear that we aregoing to be replaced, but at the
end of the day, we're stillhere, right?
I mean, if you think about it,there is a point of being a
human and interacting with otherhumans.
That's life, that's the life weknow it and it's joyous if you
(43:21):
can embrace it and findhappiness and find your calling
and find your quest and allthese things.
So, really, the key here iswe're at a transformative time
and so we don't and especiallyif you've been around a little
while on this planet we knowwhat we know and how do you know
(43:42):
what the future is holding?
But you can feel it, the energythat's here we're transforming
together, and so I've even saidthis to my kids you know there's
a lot of I mean some, some ofthe job that you might do maybe
hasn't even been invented yet.
So I think that's what's trulyexciting about what's happening.
(44:04):
It's nerve wracking because itdoesn't exist and so much
unknown and there is disruptionno doubt that's coming, and job
loss, but then job creationright, that's coming, and job
loss, but then job creationright, because industries I mean
like, look at what you know,the frontier of where SpaceX is
(44:26):
leading and Elon Musk at youknow an interplanetary species.
If that's not a lofty goal, Idon't know what one what it is.
Right.
So then, okay, so do we.
You know, are those lofty goals?
Those are the things that aretransforming and bringing new
opportunities.
So, as old ways die out, right,as long as that transformation
(44:47):
is continuing on.
I heard it said in the HR spaceif AIs are just talking to AIs
and analyzing things like,what's the point If the humans
aren't a benefactor, we're here.
I mean.
So it is truly a resource forhumanity and I think that's
where we have to look at itright.
(45:08):
So the Terminator and theself-sustained, the singularity
event and all this sciencefiction elements, um, they're
thought provoking, but at theend of the day, we're here, uh,
and as far as I know, mostpeople don't really want to go
anywhere and they want betterlives.
So I I kind of see it as a verypractical.
We are a species who knows howto survive.
(45:32):
We've made it, we've we'vecompletely mastered the planet,
brought it to everything, to itfor modern conveniences, and now
we've invented this technology.
There is some level ofpointlessness if we let this
thing reach out, reach to thepoint where it's making
decisions on behalf of itself orarguing with like again, wait a
(45:53):
minute, the humans are overhere.
We're going to have lives tolive and do our thing.
So I see it as, in a lot of ways, for the fear mongers out there
that are wondering is it goingto take over, we're a really
resilient species.
I know I have a lot of grit,determination.
This just got me to this point,you know, and I'm living the
best life that I have in a longtime, just by personal
(46:17):
development, perseverance andgrit.
I'm just optimistic, man, thatthe innovators of the world,
we're going to figure it out.
We're going to mess it up.
It's going to be messy wealways do, you know, but but we
also.
The best is yet to come, Ithink, in humanity.
So maybe that's just theoptimist in me, but that's just
(46:40):
how I live my life and it feelsreally good.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
So I'm sticking with it in the distant future where
certain jobs aren't needed andthere might be a time when we
have universal basic incomebecause there's just not a lot
(47:04):
we have to do for ourselves.
I'm talking about really fardistant, but there'll always be
people that want more in lifethan to be given a paycheck and
to sit at home watching netflixall day, exactly, and I don't.
I don't think that's that, thathuman nature is ever going to
leave us.
I think we're going to alwaysaspire to be human.
(47:25):
Humanity will always aspire tohave do something more with its
its purpose.
I use purpose intentionallythere.
Everybody has to find theirpurpose and you know, like you
said a few minutes ago, ifyou're, if you're not waking up
every day and and at least 70%happy with what you're doing,
(47:47):
then you probably should bedoing something else.
You know that that that thatmakes me think about aligning to
my purpose.
And do I spring out of bedevery morning?
Yeah, most days I do.
I'm extremely excited tofulfill my purpose, and my
purpose is going to change alittle bit as AI becomes more of
(48:08):
a supporting tool.
In my life, my life, I, Iabsolutely have seen the
productivity that they claim ithas and made tons and tons of my
of of the work.
That amounts to that 30% thatI'm not super satisfied for.
(48:30):
Uh, just disappear.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
You know, I can talk for a long time about what that
looks like, but this is not myinterview, right?
Speaker 2 (48:38):
Yeah, that's a great testimony.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
But essentially it is .
It's only going to get better,and the sooner we embrace it,
the sooner we can becomecreative technologists or better
knowledge workers, in whateverfield we're in.
Right, it's, at least for theforeseeable future.
(49:03):
It's only going to make usbetter.
Humans is what I see.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
So, cool.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
All right, I'd like to wrap this up with my favorite
question to my my guests on theshow Barron, if you could tell
us, if you could have anysuperpower, what would it be and
why?
Speaker 2 (49:27):
I think it would be to inspire others.
We talked about being a leader.
That's lifting other people upand helping other people.
I truly would like to developthat as my superpower be
inspirational to others, causeit's just cool, like when you
can and then you know, and maybea combination of that is is
(49:49):
teaching other, reminding otherpeople that they have the power
to improve their lives A lot ofpeople just look around, it's, I
think, it's, you know, I meanmaybe even AI goes into that
conversation in their head likethe world's a crappy place and
negativity and that's a.
(50:09):
it's a spiraling downward.
So inspiration, motivation,because we, we, we started,
started our, you know, just justour opening, some of our
opening conversations aboutpersonal development, how much
personal development.
The motivational speakers, theinspirational speakers of the
books that I've read, how muchthey've improved my life, yeah,
(50:30):
um, man just and I actually I Ihave been that.
I've been taking the energy thatI've been able to harness
myself the positivity, the greatthings that have happened in my
life and then improving others.
So I think I'm doing that.
I just want to get betteractually at it, cause it really
makes you feel good, like tohelp other people.
(50:50):
It's it's pretty dang awesome.
So that's what I want mysuperpower to be.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Yeah, it sounds like your superpower leads to you
living your purpose out.
You know you're living a lifeof purpose, helping others,
lifting them up, showing themthat the glass is half full.
(51:17):
So I think optimism is yoursuperpower.
I think that's great and youknow it's a it's a mindset that
you're sharing here that doescreate real transformation.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
So, yes, I love the energy I I feel like I could I
definitely connect with your,your thinking yeah, it really is
.
Uh, positivity or negativityare contagious.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Yeah, man, well, it's been a pleasure.
Baron, thank you so much forfor working with me on the on
the episode today.
I've learned a ton from you.
I know that we have a lot totalk about and in the future, so
I'd love to stay connected.
Thank you for your time.
I know the audience will enjoy.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
Thank you, Jason.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
All right, take care.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
All right, bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
And thanks to our listeners for tuning in today.
If you or your company wouldlike to be featured in the
Inspire AI Richman episode,please drop us a message.
Don't forget to like, share orfollow our content.
Stay up to date on the latestevents for AI Ready RVA.
Thank you again and see younext time.
Welcome RVA to Inspire AI, where we spotlight
companies and individuals in theregion who are pioneering the
development and use ofartificial intelligence.
I'm Jason McGinty from AI ReadyRVA.
At AI Ready RVA, our mission isto cultivate AI literacy in the
greater Richmond region throughawareness, community engagement
(00:24):
, education and advocacy.
Today's episode is madepossible by Modern Ancients
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(00:44):
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Don't forget to like, share orfollow our content and stay up
(01:07):
to date on the latest events forAI Ready RVA.
Welcome to another episode ofInspire AI, where we dive into
the minds of trailblazersshaping the future of business
and technology.
Today, I'm thrilled tointroduce a guest whose impact
in the world of IT leadershipand business transformation is
(01:28):
nothing short of extraordinary.
Barron Wright is a visionarytechnology executive known for
optimizing customer satisfactionand engagement by designing
innovative solutions that alignperfectly with business
objectives.
With a track record of forgingstrong partnerships with
industry leaders, barron plays acrucial role in bridging the
(01:51):
gap between technology andbusiness strategy, helping
organizations achieve theirboldest ambitions.
Barron's expertise spanssecurity, cloud and SaaS
solutions, enterprise strategicplanning, it infrastructure and
business transformation, makinghim a sought-after leader in the
(02:11):
technology space.
But beyond his technical acumen, what truly sets him apart is
his ability to build lastingrelationships, mentor
high-performing teams and driveinnovation that fuels business
success.
Today, we'll explore Barron'sjourney, his insights on the
evolving IT landscape and howtechnology leaders can drive
(02:34):
meaningful transformation intheir organizations.
Please join me in welcomingBarron to Inspire AI.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Jason thank you so much and hello everybody.
Wow, I'm hearing those words.
I'm like who's this guy?
Appreciate the warm thoughtsthere.
Yes, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It is a little surreal being on a podcast,
right?
Well, thank you for joining ustoday.
Baron, can you start out bytelling us a little bit about
yourself, your business, yourinterest in AI?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, Well, I'm a technology entrepreneur, that's
for sure.
I didn't even know it atcertain points in my career, had
the privilege of going to workin a systems integration kind of
a managed IT firm back in the90s, before they call it managed
IT kind of a managed IT firmback in the 90s, before they
call it managed IT.
So I've been a technologyentrepreneur most of my career.
(03:30):
I am a husband and father ofthree.
I enjoy off-road motorcycleriding, which I actually got to
ride my dirt bike yesterday,which, well, sunday, and really
is my escape and a great hobby,yeah.
But my interest in AI really,from the from thus far, it's
(03:54):
been personal productivity andI'm intrigued, really, really
intrigued, at its impact in thesoftware development landscape
and how it's changing software.
I think you know so much of ofwhat what people are talking
about.
Talking about is lots ofproductivity and the personal
productivity I know it has beenfor me, but I'm really joining
(04:16):
other most world leaders andbusiness leaders and knowing
that what we are, what we'reexperiencing now, is truly like,
you know, the revolution of theinternet, you know, back in the
90s.
So it's a great time to be intechnology.
I definitely am optimistic, forsure, and you know, in terms of
(04:39):
really AI for me actually helpedme make a big helped feeling,
helped me making a big businessdecision last year around my
technology entrepreneurship likewhere I was headed.
I had a big fork in the roaddecision last year.
Ai was a great personal aid.
I had a really great network ofpeople that actually were
helping me with an importantdecision.
(05:00):
An important decision and then,in a lot of ways, ai, chat, gpt
in particular, was kind of afriend and a confidant on the
side that you could validateideas and shape ideas and it
really became honestly enough ofan impact where there was like
another person in my life and itwas also in some cases in most
(05:22):
of the case, actually, the greatadvice that I got from my
network of colleagues wasvalidation too.
So I'm really really it'sreally exciting to be in a place
of technology entrepreneurshipand having this tool available.
It's mind boggling but reallyexciting available.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
It's mind boggling but really exciting.
Yeah, it definitely elevatesthe human capabilities and I,
like your your statement ofyou're an optimist about this
technology gives gives me asense that you know you see it
as being a tool to unlock humanpotential, more than replace it,
which is a great thing.
It's very powerful.
It supports our productivity ineveryday life these days and I
(06:09):
think it's a it's a greatconnection you made for yourself
.
It is another thing that youcan fall back on and and
leverage as a key partner inyour life, yeah, which I think
that's that's like step one forsure is making turning it into
the most productive personalassistant.
(06:29):
Yeah, yeah, so being able toleverage its key skills to do
that is a major undertaking.
It teaches you a lot about theAI technology and it allows you
to expand your thinking beyondthat.
So that's great that you'rethere.
Yeah, can you tell us?
So what inspired you to startUMIT Technologies?
(06:53):
What gap in the market are youaddressing?
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Well.
So UMIT Technologies isactually a byproduct of the
company that I founded, whichwas VectorPro.
Vectorpro was my secondentrepreneurial venture, so
VectorPro was acquired by theUpper Mattapani Indian Tribe.
So UMIT is an acronym for theUpper Mattapani Indian Tribe.
Which the Upper Mattapani Tribeis a is a very much an
(07:22):
entrepreneurial driven, triballyowned tribal nation Right.
So the Upper Mattapani IndianTribe received its sovereign
nation status in 2019.
And subsequent to that, hasbeen growing.
Various enterprises within thetribe has been growing various
(07:44):
enterprises within the tribe.
The tribe started a healthcaresystem which has been producing
not only well-needed medicalservices for tribal citizens as
well as the community in KingWilliam, but also is a revenue
stream for the tribe to do otherentrepreneurial things.
So from my perspective, I washappily running my managed IT
(08:08):
firm.
I have been in the ITconsulting space most of my
career.
As I mentioned earlier, I was abusiness owner with five.
We were a total of fivepartners.
For about 18 years we weretogether.
We were doing managed ITservices as well as systems
integration, cisco networkingand Cisco VoiceOver IP was a big
(08:31):
initiative back in the 2000swhen VoiceOver IP was becoming a
real thing and sort of changedthe landscape of how businesses
used and implemented phonesystems.
So my journey took me to a placewhere I needed to start another
business and I was out therelooking.
I'll never forget it, too,because I ship shaped my
(08:53):
LinkedIn profile and dusted offthe wealth, had a resume created
, spent good money actually tohave a professional help me
write that, and because I hadbeen a business owner Right, and
you don't really do your ownresumes when you're in that
position and it didn't feelright.
I was out looking for a job and, honestly, it just didn't sit
right with me.
I'm like you know, my truecalling really did come out,
(09:16):
like I really really liked thenotion of a lot of people saying
I want to go into business formyself so I can be my own boss.
You know, you always have aboss.
I mean, your customers are yourboss, right, but it is
something that there's a uniquedrive that the entrepreneurial
spirit.
So Vector Pro was my secondversion.
(09:39):
I was a sole proprietor.
Just me kind of want to slowgrowth.
The space that we fit is reallywas small to medium businesses.
Giving them providing an ITleadership.
Keep the lights on IT is a lotof what I like to call it, but
also coupling that with you knowwhat are some decisions that I
should be making in my business.
(10:00):
Cybersecurity is a big thing.
Outside of AI, one of thenumber one things that
businesses are concerned aboutthese days is cybersecurity and
most people don't do it right.
I mean, you can be spendingmillions of dollars on
cybersecurity and there's stillrisk right, you can't make the
risk go away.
But the need that we werefulfilling at VectorPro was
well-run IT with an enterprisementality, well-run IT with an
(10:23):
enterprise mentality,cybersecurity tools kind of
built in and then fractionalleadership.
That kind of went all into apackage.
So you know about eight or 10clients that I had that was in,
that was, and I had two otheremployees in the business and
then the tribe approached me andthat the Upper Mattify tribe
approached me to acquire thebusiness but wanted me as a part
(10:47):
of it.
Right, the business wasn't bigenough to just, you know, set
into the sunset.
So UMIT Technologies was reallythat formation of an
entrepreneurial tribal nationwanting to do more, more lines
of business, and so we'recapturing that spirit of
entrepreneurial drive growth,and now I have a business
(11:10):
partner that's funding growth ina really exciting time.
Cybersecurity and AI is prettymuch what we talk about today.
Honestly, you know, theinteresting thing about AI now
is well, you know, I sort of putdata in that same thing.
Right, that's really ultimatelywhat cybersecurity is
(11:31):
protecting.
Sometimes we think of it justas malware and viruses and
things like that the classicdefense.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
But cybersecurity is also encapsulating data.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
And AI has a really strong sort of a vacuum effect,
like where is my data going?
You know so that datagovernance in AI is a huge issue
in IT infrastructure concepts,which you know sort of the
day-to-day keep the lights on IT.
I like to call it about how doI protect the data.
You know I want to use chat GPT.
(12:03):
I want to use Microsoft Copilot.
Is my data safe?
Most frequent question thatcustomers are asking me now is
my data safe if I use this tool?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So yeah, I would love to be a fly on the wall when
you answer that.
It's a great cross-sectioncybersecurity and AI and such a
compelling backstory of how thathappened.
I guess it's quite a reminderthat there are.
You know, unexpectedrelationships can lead to
meaningful transformations.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
That's cool.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, for sure it does remind me Sorry, go ahead.
I'm going to tag on one littleremark there because actually
the backstory of therelationship there was one of my
more difficult clients over theyears in my career as an IT
entrepreneur and a businessowner and really a day-to-day
(12:59):
technical practitioner I was adeliverer of technical services
to my clients.
Technical practitioner right, Iwas a deliverer of technical
services to my clients.
This person often I would leavetheir office often bewildered,
kind of wondering where do Istand with this person?
Just one of those kind of toughcookies that you know, hard but
(13:21):
fair ultimately.
But one of those managersleadership leaders that was
always had you kind of guessinga little bit on your heels kind
of a thing and I honestly Inever knew where I stood.
I would leave the, leave hisoffice, sometimes frustrated
sometimes honestly demoralized,like wow, you know make a
mistake.
Um, he was pretty hard on youwhen you made mistakes and
things like that, but we alwayswe were together 10 or plus
(13:41):
years.
Um, this person who I sort ofwant you know where do I stand
with them actually was theperson to who recommended me to
the tribe.
He's a tribal, he's a NativeAmerican upper Maniponite
citizen and went out on a limbto refer me.
So it is one of those thingsthat sometimes even the most
challenging people, difficultpeople, hard on you, people who
(14:04):
are hard on you not to soundnegative, but like those folks
who cause you to think and maybeadd some stress in your life,
you know.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I could have easily just written them off.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And there was a part in me that actually kind of was
questioning like wow, like youknow, I mean I it was, it was,
it was.
It was truly amazing to havethat type of referral.
It's literally changed thetrajectory of my life.
Come from a person.
It the the.
(14:36):
Ultimately now, the questionthat I can answer is that all
those years he did have a lot ofrespect for me.
I just never quite knew it.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Some people have trouble expressing their
feelings.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And you know empathetic ways.
Yeah, yeah, and you know he'sprobably a business owner, maybe
definitely a leader of thecompany, and took it very
seriously.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
So you know business is business to certain people.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, and then, but to literally have that.
So, man, man, I'm telling youthat is a major life lesson to
never burn a bridge even if youdisagree with somebody, right,
even if you part ways like don'tburn the bridge, man, because
you just have no idea.
I went through transformationin my life.
He went through separate trance.
We were completely out in theuniverse, on totally different
(15:23):
paths, and then the worldbrought us together just by a
phone call.
We crossed pat, I crossed acommon, uh, you know person in
both in our network.
I was actually doing a salescall and, uh, that commonality
brought me back to a phone callwhich started that.
So don't ever burn thosebridges, man.
You just don't know what thefuture could unfold and it and
(15:44):
it's an amazing place that we'rein today.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
So yeah, a hundred percent.
Yeah, you need your networkAbsolutely To grow your career.
You cannot do it alone aroundhere, absolutely.
So all right, that's really agreat add-on.
Thank you for sharing.
Can you tell us a little bitabout how your leadership
approach evolved with the rapidadvancement of technology and,
(16:07):
lately, considering theevolution of AI?
How has it evolved?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Yeah, I don't think I would say my leadership has
changed because I'm.
I really am.
I mean my leadership stylechanged on its own.
We were talking earlier aboutjust, uh, professional
development books.
I really am.
I wasn't always this leader,because I always have.
I have been a natural leader,but I was oftentimes I wanted to
(16:34):
be.
It was, it was unintentionaltalents coming out and
personality, but I often was, Iwas proud to be, you know, the
guy talking the most in themeeting, or maybe you know
having the best ideas, or beingthe center point of the guy who
had the subject matter knowledgeand so on and so forth.
(16:54):
And you know that's one way to.
That's leadership.
That's not leading a team,that's leading you.
You know an initiative or aproject or a sale, and so my
leadership, honestly, like I had, my leadership has evolved to I
am not the most importantperson on the team.
(17:16):
I have to lift others up rightand it is that's a.
That's a personal developmentthat has just come with age and
wisdom and hard knocks.
I wish I had it earlier.
So I would say the my, you knowmy career and these experiences
and getting getting runninginto some brick walls, to having
(17:37):
hard times, you know, losing ajob and being faced with you
know a really really do I wantto go get a job or am I going to
start this other business, kindof a thing those things really
shake you up and has changed it.
So lifting others up, being anencouraging leader, is really
(17:59):
what I do now, and also now,though, we have this backdrop of
AI and these game-changingtechnologies.
So the encouraging part,lifting people up part I think
now I'm weaving that into theday-to-day conversations of back
(18:22):
to AI being a tool for personaldevelopment and a tool for
efficiency, personalproductivity.
That's kind of how I weave itin, like making sure that people
are using it to improve theirlives in any way they can.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
But, simultaneously.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
You know how is your personal life or how are your
hobbies.
You know talking with employeesabout.
You know their careeraspirations.
They're in a position wherethey don't love.
If you don't love, at least youknow 70% of your job.
You're probably in a wrongposition and there's always 30%
(18:58):
of crapola that goes with a job.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
So Dole sucking work.
I like to say yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
But I do feel like that's kind of where I am.
Um, I I don't, I don't, I don'tthink AI has quite, but we
don't know right now.
Like there is, there'ssomething else coming quickly,
um of of what AI.
I mean kind of, uh, we're aMicrosoft, we do a lot of
Microsoft partner work, cloudservice provider, so Microsoft's
(19:27):
pushing, you know, copilot.
It's interesting how that mixesin the world, you know,
alongside ChatGPT, which is, youknow, encouraging the use of
and spending money on thoselicenses, right, I mean,
microsoft the chat, the Copilotlicense is more expensive than
your average, your day-to-dayMicrosoft.
You know, microsoft the chat,the co-file license is more
expensive than your day-to-dayMicrosoft productivity your
Microsoft 365 license it'sactually more expensive.
(19:49):
So, being willing to invest ina technology tool that's there
to make the people better, moreproductive, right?
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Yeah, it's definitely a force multiplier.
Yeah, it's definitely a forcemultiplier.
Yeah, yeah, and and uh.
You know I every everythingthat you're saying there totally
resonates with me.
I even feel like ourbackgrounds are similar.
Prior to changing my worldviewthrough enterprise lens, I was
working for a small, mediumbusiness consulting firm in
(20:22):
Dallas and it's's closed downsince.
It's called Tech Metrics and wewere largely a Microsoft shop
and we had our challenges withour customers and we each had to
figure out our leadershipstyles in this organization.
At the time, I was the guy thatwas a senior consultant and had
(20:49):
the very, very much like Ishould be the center of
attention, I should be the onespeaking here.
And you know, fast forward 15years and you've got the idea of
servant leadership as a primarygoal in everything that I do.
When I support someone orsomething, it's you know what,
(21:11):
what can I, what am I here for?
It's not me, me as the centerof attention, but it's you know
what can I do to add value tothis situation or this person's
life?
And so, yeah, what you saidreally resonates with me and I
really appreciate being able toreconnect with those feelings.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
It has to be genuine too, though it can't just be the
cat, the proverbial cat poster.
You know the mission statement.
I love that you remember thatcat poster where he's like
hanging on and like thoseproverbial missions that it has
to be.
You definitely have to believeit, you do have to believe it.
You know it's even with apartner, a spouse, and you don't
(21:49):
believe it, Right?
I mean it's yeah you just that,that that speaks into the power
of change and personal personaldevelopment.
We can change ourselves.
So, yeah, that's been a huge,huge bit for me.
Thanks for sharing that too.
Yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, I love authentic leaders.
That's that's important.
And you get the sense afteryou've been around several
flavors of leadership for longenough recognize when they're
faking it, if you will All right, so tell me a little bit more
about U-MIT Technologiesintegration business strategy
(22:26):
and how does it drive innovationand efficiency.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Yeah Well, as I said, our kind of our go to market
strategy is managed IT Right.
So I like to call it the keepthe lights on IT Right.
You, everybody, needs acomputer on the desk Mac or
Windows.
It's got to be managed, patch,cyber, secure, you know, blah,
blah, blah.
So there's that general sort ofkeep the lights on IT.
We do that well actually.
(22:49):
And what's amazing is when youdo that well, nobody's really
talking about all the fussinessdown there.
It gives you time truly toelevate your conversations.
So part of our service deliveryis also kind of a fractional
leadership.
We don't exactly call it well.
I guess it kind of says in ourmarketing materials you know a
(23:09):
fractional leader so, and wedon't charge for those hours.
At some point if it turns into abig project or something like
that.
You know we have provisions,but hey, if I can have a seat at
the table like myself or othersenior members of the staff, if
we can get a seat at the tableof a management meeting, that
(23:31):
where you're not fussing aboutopen tickets and broken
computers and you know all thosethings that that are just kind
of boring it stuff.
that's where the really coolbusiness problems come up.
In fact, that meeting Imentioned to you earlier, uh, an
organic meeting, evolved around, um, uh, the ceo of this, of
(23:53):
this client, one of our clients,is just a really great thinker.
He's very simple in hisapproach.
He was just asking lots of whatifs and he had several members
of the technology team myselfbeing one of the having kind of
that proverbial seat at thetable, having kind of that
proverbial seat at the table,and so what's really cool about
(24:17):
having like a foundational,foundational role in doing that
well and then being willing toextend ourselves into these
leadership conversations.
That's where we're seeing thewheels start to spin and there,
and and business owners areasking a lot of questions.
Honestly that I don't thinkthere's very, there's no
(24:39):
prevalent answers right now.
Here's an example A lot ofbusinesses now run on software
as a service systems.
Right, they're industryspecialized.
We all know QuickBooks andthings like that that are that
are unique across.
I'm sorry, you know they'reacross a lot of industries but
then there's veryindustry-specific software
(25:01):
platforms.
This particular client that I'mtalking about is in the medical
transportation and uses asoftware system that does
computer-aided dispatch or CADsoftware system that does
computer aided dispatch or CAD,and so the CAD puts the trucks
on the road to go pick up thepatients and you know it
(25:22):
schedules employees, so on andso forth.
But they're they're a captive.
That software, as a servicesystem, has all the data.
It's the ERP for the medicaltransportation company.
So fortunately it's a goodsoftware system, right, it works
, but unfortunately it's aclosed system.
That it's.
It is an ecosystem, its ownecosystem, and so how do you get
(25:45):
information in and out of that?
Um, you know you hear thisphrase of api integration right,
software systems beingintegrated with one another, but
that's hard, it's clumsy a lotof times.
So the conversation was well, Iwould like to have AI helping
me answer my telephones and, youknow, can it do a lookup and
(26:09):
give a customer a ride.
So you're starting to see whatthe Microsoft CEO has been
speaking about, of the AI layer,these AI bots that are and this
is now becoming commonconversation amongst business
leaders.
They're hearing the podcast andnow they're asking these
(26:30):
legitimate business questions totheir tech teams and we don't
have good answers because it'scaptive in this software as a
service, you know, kind of aclosed system.
Right, the data is in theapplication.
How do I bridge?
You know how do I shim an AIlayer in between them?
(26:51):
So that's what I'm seeing a lotof like exciting ideas
innovative leaders are coming upwith these ideas.
And then, actually, unless youown your own software which most
businesses don't right Mostpeople have gone out to the
software as a service.
If you happen to be with asoftware as a service provider
who's innovating with AI, wellthen great.
(27:12):
Be with a software as a serviceprovider who's innovating with
AI?
Well then, great, I mean.
But if you're with one thatdoesn't have AI, an AI layer,
you're kind of stuck with thembecause they also have a closed
you know, a closed system.
So what I'm seeing now, what'scausing my wheels to spin, is
like oh wow, how do I?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I mean for us as an infrastructure company.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
We've put ourselves in the position where we have a
seat at the table.
Are these areas where I shouldbe looking at for UMIT
technologies as innovativeopportunities, right?
And do you even call itsoftware development?
Right?
That's a whole you know,because can't the AI write its
own software development?
(27:57):
I'd love to open up that kindof conversation because that to
me, is one of the mostintriguing.
But it's exciting and then allof a sudden it can also quickly
turn kind of frustrating,because I don't know about you
but when you see all thesesoftware systems.
I was talking to a friend acouple of months ago and he was
(28:17):
a business owner.
He does, he manages apartmentsor you know, multilevel housing
and so property managementcompany.
Sorry, I was having a hard timegetting that out and he's like
you know, he was counting on hishand and he went to two hands
of all the software systems inhis ecosystem.
None of them talk to each other,you know, and so I really think
(28:41):
this, this AI layer, whetherit's integrating software or is?
It replacing software like that.
You know the software as aservice that we have of what we
know today, because at thispoint now.
I've been in enoughconversations to see that it's a
barrier, like we know the AI,we know it's there, business
(29:02):
owners now are, and thisparticular guy that I'm talking
about is willing to spend money,right, because he also knows
that it's cost deferred.
Now, in some cases, this is thedangerous side of AI.
It is job replacement, right,there is automation that can
replace humans, but as abusiness owner, he's got to be
looking at that too.
Right, if his costs are youknow, how can he optimize that
(29:24):
business?
So that's what I'm seeing a lotnow.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Some of them are unanswerable questions now, some
of them are unanswerablequestions.
That's wild.
So you have a customer, theyhave some off-the-shelf solution
, software as a service.
It does not integrate withother systems.
Well, api integrations thatthey have documented are
(29:52):
outdated, kludgy, um.
And to tie those api requestsinto some ai platform in order
to make use of the data which isrightfully theirs, but exactly
actually not.
Yeah, yeah, um, yeah.
So you know.
(30:12):
So many things come to mind hereAt this point.
I would be looking forcloud-based technologies to
replace whatever got them stuckin that world an Amazon web
service package that does whatthey want it to do for their ERP
(30:36):
.
I'm not terribly familiar withERPs, but I did definitely work
with an ERP back when I was inthe Microsoft server
infrastructure world as well, inthat consulting role I referred
to, and it's not a friendlysystem.
So I would say, yeah, we couldgo on and on, but if you could
(30:58):
find a solution that'scloud-based and one in which
that does integrate with othertechnologies very easily and
this is forward thinking withthe AI tech, then you might have
a much easier set ofcircumstances to deal with a
roadmap such as that.
But it does take work to gofrom a data center co-located
(31:24):
version of what they do as aprimary resource of revenue to a
cloud-based technology.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Yeah, what's interesting is I have a close
relationship.
We helped this particularclient onboard into this system.
It was a pretty long journey,probably a six-month journey,
leaving another software as aservice system going to this one
.
It is a better piece ofsoftware, there's no doubt there
(31:53):
are lots of value has come fromit.
But it's that lock, thatlandlocked element.
You know that.
And they do offer some again,some APIs.
They just take a long time readonly copy of the data so you
can get to the data, so on andso forth.
So there's something there.
So I was actually having a talkwith this guy, right, this is
(32:15):
the software as a service systemthat my client depends on and
we got through some of the brasstacks of a couple incidents and
what's the status on this, thatand the other.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And I was asking him hey what's your strategy with AI
?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Immediately, you could tell it was a Zoom call.
Immediately, the count haschanged.
Oh, no, no no, no, no, no aithis industry.
It'll never happen to thisindustry for 10 years.
So here you had a companyleader of a software company,
whom, whom my client depends on,right and immediately it was oh
no, no, no, we're different.
(32:47):
This industry is not going to beimpacted by ai.
It'll never.
It'll never, like literally thewords, like it'll never be
there kind of a thing, likeit'll never happen.
And I go to say now, I'm nevershocked, but I was kind of taken
back Like, really you do?
Do you really think that thisindustry is impervious from
(33:09):
these forces that that are atwork?
Um, which you know?
I mean, that's one way to do itright Put your head in the sand
like an ostrich and just ignoreall these forces and hope it
doesn't impact your software.
But here I am representing aclient that's like trying to
innovate, like you know, andAllroads led to this software.
(33:32):
So it's like like, um, yeah,it's it was a closed-minded
perspective um which I was kindof shocked, actually a little
bit, but I do you know nothing.
Not much shock, see these days,but it was.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
I was surprised I see , yeah, I would politely rebut
that as well and say I get it.
No, you haven't been exposed tothose.
You know the risks in thatthinking yet, but it is a
naturally disrupting technologyand it is going to impact all
(34:08):
industries.
It's only a matter of time.
Industries.
It's only a matter of time.
And so, you know, as innovators, we need to be thinking about
the future before the futuregets us and and you know, pulls
us out of the sand.
I love the ostrich analogy.
I always say that to people,and not to people, but about
people that choose to look theother way and don't, don't
(34:33):
accept the, the reality in whichyou know hate to say it, but is
a well-framed one at this point, and if you're not paying
attention, then you've got.
You've got to, uh, startsometime.
And whether it's a it's afriend that wakes you up to it,
or a business, a bad businessdecision that wakes you up to it
(34:53):
, or a business, a bad businessdecision that wakes you up to it
, it will happen, so anyway.
So tell me a little bit of ananecdote here, if you were to
share some of your insightsabout some of the more exciting
AI advancements you're lookingout for and watching and seeing.
How do you see them influencingbusiness in the next five years
(35:16):
?
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Well, this notion of no code or low code or an AI
layer the Microsoft CEO has beentalking about, essentially, an
AI layer, removing software as aservice.
We talked a lot about that,right, the closeness of a
software as a service platformof businesses.
Once you make a decision on one, you're captive to that.
(35:40):
Well, what if you could?
Businesses could write theirown software in a cloud
environment.
Right, microsoft is going bigin cloud, same with AWS.
You don't need the software asa service or you don't need a
team of programmers to to createthe software that runs the
(36:01):
business that makes a decision.
That, to me, is absolutelyprofound.
I mean the investments that.
I mean Microsoft is a softwarecompany and to hear the CEO
speak is truly profound, knowingthat this entire layer they
(36:22):
don't get it right and softwarechanges as we know it could wipe
out.
You know an entire company,like you know a large software
giant.
So that's that's where we areand it is truly profound.
And when you hear businessleaders saying they want to get
more out of their software andthen that ostrich software
(36:45):
development company, right,saying no, we'll never, we don't
need to do that, it'll never,it'll never happen, what do you
think?
You know those business leadersare going to go towards the no
code, low code.
Let me just tell my AIinterpreter chat GPT.
Let me just talk to it.
I mean, who's to say youcouldn't go home?
You know, riding in your carand instead of listening to an
(37:08):
audio book, you're having aconversation with your AI
interpreter and it captures allthese ideas and, honestly, this
client that we've talked a lotabout, he's an innovative
thinker and goes into theseplaces where he just has idea
after idea after idea and that'sa very possible reality pretty
(37:34):
soon.
There's tools out there.
I have a good friend who'sactually coming to U-MIT
Technologies, so we have ournext hire is a really powerful
business development leader, hasexperience in this space and
has.
He was.
He was in a position ofmarketing business development,
(37:56):
roadma mapping and then thereally smart software developers
were.
You know, he was interfacedwith funding and these were
large, you know, multimilliondollar investments and started
dabbling around with Replit,which is a no-code, low-code
tool, which is a no-code,low-code tool, and here you had
(38:20):
a business dev guy a biz dev guyActually.
They had used the tool for acouple of months and were able
to produce real solutions, andthey are not software developers
.
That's game-changing man.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
That is game-changing , that's game changing man.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
That is that to me is you know, truly the
democratization of software.
If anybody can have anysoftware that they want, that's
just.
To me that's mind blowing.
Now I'm sure it's terrifyingfor the software developers of
the world.
Right, that is one of thosethings that change the landscape
(38:57):
of jobs in technology.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
So yeah, yeah, it certainly is a bit scary.
You know I manage softwaredevelopment teams.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
My company and you know no one's shaking in their
boots yet, but we're, you knowwe're.
We're thinking about how toleverage these tools and how to,
how to build efficiencies withthem and get to the to the
creative spaces of softwareengineering.
Right it's?
It's interesting how we'rehaving this conversation about
(39:33):
no code, low code.
There's another term for it,called vibe coding.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
I just very recently published a podcast episode on
vibe coding.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
It gives a depiction of what it's like for software
developers and what the decisionmatrix looks like for will it
replace them, will it justenhance their abilities?
And you know I won't give youany more details about it, but
it's definitely worth a listen.
I do believe that you know notto harp on this too much more,
(40:08):
but I do believe thateverybody's going to be capable
of coding.
You don't have to just beexperimental and somebody in
technology.
At some point it will become sodemocratized that you can just
speak to your computer andpublish some new web app.
Yeah, uh, you know I'veexperimented with some of those
(40:29):
things and it it will write upan entire uh back end.
For you know what it's worth todo.
Anything you want it to.
Some of the coding programming.
Well, some of the programminglanguages have to be really well
understood.
You can't tell it to go andcode in like Erlang or something
(40:50):
like that, because there's nota lot of data examples on it.
But it'll do Python and Nodeand JavaScript and Java and Go
very well.
There's so many examples outthere and it's so fluent in
those things that I absolutelysee it replacing a large portion
(41:11):
of the developer role in thefuture.
Now you can type in or evenspeak to a computer program like
Replit.
There's a Claude one that I'verecently used, there's the
Copilot.
There's plenty of examples thatwill just build this
application for you, and it'snot going to be perfect because
(41:31):
it needs time to be refined, butit's definitely making a splash
and it's only going to continuegetting more and more capable.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
I'm sure that's a passionate topic for you, right
being in the space and yeah, Ilook to the future.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
I will not stick my head in the sand.
I say this stuff is coming, andif I decide to not deal with it
now, then I could easily bereplaced by somebody who is
willing to deal with it now.
Well, that's why you're here onAI, ready, doing this,
challenging the mainstream or atleast the non-innovative
(42:13):
thoughts, so it's awesome thatyou're out here doing this and
advocating for it yeah, thisorganization is definitely an
advocate for the future and wewant to embrace the
opportunities and and shepherdthose that are willing to to
experiment and then also helpthose that aren't yet willing to
(42:34):
experiment to realize thepotential.
So, yeah, it's great, it'sgreat to be here.
Yeah, all right.
So, thinking about a little bitmore in terms of how AI is
becoming more sophisticated,what would you suggest for
businesses to ensure that thehuman element remains a core
(42:55):
part of the innovation anddecision-making?
Speaker 2 (43:00):
Yeah, that's an interesting topic because it is
sort of the fear that we aregoing to be replaced, but at the
end of the day, we're stillhere, right?
I mean, if you think about it,there is a point of being a
human and interacting with otherhumans.
That's life, that's the life weknow it and it's joyous if you
(43:21):
can embrace it and findhappiness and find your calling
and find your quest and allthese things.
So, really, the key here iswe're at a transformative time
and so we don't and especiallyif you've been around a little
while on this planet we knowwhat we know and how do you know
(43:42):
what the future is holding?
But you can feel it, the energythat's here we're transforming
together, and so I've even saidthis to my kids you know there's
a lot of I mean some, some ofthe job that you might do maybe
hasn't even been invented yet.
So I think that's what's trulyexciting about what's happening.
(44:04):
It's nerve wracking because itdoesn't exist and so much
unknown and there is disruptionno doubt that's coming, and job
loss, but then job creationright, that's coming, and job
loss, but then job creationright, because industries I mean
like, look at what you know,the frontier of where SpaceX is
(44:26):
leading and Elon Musk at youknow an interplanetary species.
If that's not a lofty goal, Idon't know what one what it is.
Right.
So then, okay, so do we.
You know, are those lofty goals?
Those are the things that aretransforming and bringing new
opportunities.
So, as old ways die out, right,as long as that transformation
(44:47):
is continuing on.
I heard it said in the HR spaceif AIs are just talking to AIs
and analyzing things like,what's the point If the humans
aren't a benefactor, we're here.
I mean.
So it is truly a resource forhumanity and I think that's
where we have to look at itright.
(45:08):
So the Terminator and theself-sustained, the singularity
event and all this sciencefiction elements, um, they're
thought provoking, but at theend of the day, we're here, uh,
and as far as I know, mostpeople don't really want to go
anywhere and they want betterlives.
So I I kind of see it as a verypractical.
We are a species who knows howto survive.
(45:32):
We've made it, we've we'vecompletely mastered the planet,
brought it to everything, to itfor modern conveniences, and now
we've invented this technology.
There is some level ofpointlessness if we let this
thing reach out, reach to thepoint where it's making
decisions on behalf of itself orarguing with like again, wait a
(45:53):
minute, the humans are overhere.
We're going to have lives tolive and do our thing.
So I see it as, in a lot of ways, for the fear mongers out there
that are wondering is it goingto take over, we're a really
resilient species.
I know I have a lot of grit,determination.
This just got me to this point,you know, and I'm living the
best life that I have in a longtime, just by personal
(46:17):
development, perseverance andgrit.
I'm just optimistic, man, thatthe innovators of the world,
we're going to figure it out.
We're going to mess it up.
It's going to be messy wealways do, you know, but but we
also.
The best is yet to come, Ithink, in humanity.
So maybe that's just theoptimist in me, but that's just
(46:40):
how I live my life and it feelsreally good.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
So I'm sticking with it in the distant future where
certain jobs aren't needed andthere might be a time when we
have universal basic incomebecause there's just not a lot
(47:04):
we have to do for ourselves.
I'm talking about really fardistant, but there'll always be
people that want more in lifethan to be given a paycheck and
to sit at home watching netflixall day, exactly, and I don't.
I don't think that's that, thathuman nature is ever going to
leave us.
I think we're going to alwaysaspire to be human.
(47:25):
Humanity will always aspire tohave do something more with its
its purpose.
I use purpose intentionallythere.
Everybody has to find theirpurpose and you know, like you
said a few minutes ago, ifyou're, if you're not waking up
every day and and at least 70%happy with what you're doing,
(47:47):
then you probably should bedoing something else.
You know that that that thatmakes me think about aligning to
my purpose.
And do I spring out of bedevery morning?
Yeah, most days I do.
I'm extremely excited tofulfill my purpose, and my
purpose is going to change alittle bit as AI becomes more of
(48:08):
a supporting tool.
In my life, my life, I, Iabsolutely have seen the
productivity that they claim ithas and made tons and tons of my
of of the work.
That amounts to that 30% thatI'm not super satisfied for.
(48:30):
Uh, just disappear.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
You know, I can talk for a long time about what that
looks like, but this is not myinterview, right?
Speaker 2 (48:38):
Yeah, that's a great testimony.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
But essentially it is .
It's only going to get better,and the sooner we embrace it,
the sooner we can becomecreative technologists or better
knowledge workers, in whateverfield we're in.
Right, it's, at least for theforeseeable future.
(49:03):
It's only going to make usbetter.
Humans is what I see.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
So, cool.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
All right, I'd like to wrap this up with my favorite
question to my my guests on theshow Barron, if you could tell
us, if you could have anysuperpower, what would it be and
why?
Speaker 2 (49:27):
I think it would be to inspire others.
We talked about being a leader.
That's lifting other people upand helping other people.
I truly would like to developthat as my superpower be
inspirational to others, causeit's just cool, like when you
can and then you know, and maybea combination of that is is
(49:49):
teaching other, reminding otherpeople that they have the power
to improve their lives A lot ofpeople just look around, it's, I
think, it's, you know, I meanmaybe even AI goes into that
conversation in their head likethe world's a crappy place and
negativity and that's a.
(50:09):
it's a spiraling downward.
So inspiration, motivation,because we, we, we started,
started our, you know, just justour opening, some of our
opening conversations aboutpersonal development, how much
personal development.
The motivational speakers, theinspirational speakers of the
books that I've read, how muchthey've improved my life, yeah,
(50:30):
um, man just and I actually I Ihave been that.
I've been taking the energy thatI've been able to harness
myself the positivity, the greatthings that have happened in my
life and then improving others.
So I think I'm doing that.
I just want to get betteractually at it, cause it really
makes you feel good, like tohelp other people.
(50:50):
It's it's pretty dang awesome.
So that's what I want mysuperpower to be.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Yeah, it sounds like your superpower leads to you
living your purpose out.
You know you're living a lifeof purpose, helping others,
lifting them up, showing themthat the glass is half full.
(51:17):
So I think optimism is yoursuperpower.
I think that's great and youknow it's a it's a mindset that
you're sharing here that doescreate real transformation.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
So, yes, I love the energy I I feel like I could I
definitely connect with your,your thinking yeah, it really is
.
Uh, positivity or negativityare contagious.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Yeah, man, well, it's been a pleasure.
Baron, thank you so much forfor working with me on the on
the episode today.
I've learned a ton from you.
I know that we have a lot totalk about and in the future, so
I'd love to stay connected.
Thank you for your time.
I know the audience will enjoy.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
Thank you, Jason.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
All right, take care.
Speaker 2 (52:00):
All right, bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
And thanks to our listeners for tuning in today.
If you or your company wouldlike to be featured in the
Inspire AI Richman episode,please drop us a message.
Don't forget to like, share orfollow our content.
Stay up to date on the latestevents for AI Ready RVA.
Thank you again and see younext time.
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