Latest / TWRS-Leadership Straight, No Chaser / How Patience Creates Better Leaders

Transcript

How Patience Creates Better Leaders · TWRS-Leadership Straight, No Chaser

• Scott: How many of us like to rush things and then forget the power of patience? Welcome back to Together We Are Stronger, Leadership Straight, No Chasers. And tonight we have Rick Cabello on with us. Rick, when it comes to the aspect of patience, what was it for you that really struck a nerve where patience was something that you're like, I've really got to tap into it? And then where was it that you saw where a lot of people overlook the power of patience? Rick Cobello: I I think the the best example was, you know, r retiring from a forty year career and then thinking about what am I gonna do next. And there were a lot of things I could have jumped at that I would have made money at, but I probably wouldn't have liked them. So it was having the patience to wait for the right thing to come along and for me to have the right state of mind to jump into it. Scott: Hmm. So George R Dovolis: Hmm. Scott: one one of the things that we highlight is the power of clarity. And so it sounds like there was a lot of clarity that you had. So when it came to opportunities that were showing up, you didn't jump at them just because of the the patience piece, but when you think about it, clarity, how much of clarity was there with that when it comes to the aspect of patients and what you were looking at as you're kind of looking at your different options? Rick Cobello: I I th I think the patience is what really helped me to define the clarity that I needed to make the right decision. Because when you have all these things coming at you at once, just having the patience to wait them out helped me develop the clarity to see what I really wanted to do. Scott: Yeah, it's it's a very interesting thing because people assume that, hey, I need patience, so let me just sit here. But the thing is Rick Cobello: Ha ha. Scott: you still have to take action. And so it is a very weird thing because people are like, I'm just gonna sit here and it's it's gonna show up. I'm like, that's not how this works. Like you have to have patience for things to start growing, but you still wanna take the action because action is gonna move things forward. But if you sit here and you just assume patience is gonna take care of you, you're kind of missing out on the point. It it's a very weird thing when you talk to individuals. And how often do you come across individuals that are like, I'm just sitting here, I'm just waiting. I'm I'm in my zone of patience and you're like, That's not how this works. Rick Cobello: No, I looked at patience as an action word. George R Dovolis: Love that. I'm writing that now. Scott: So I've I found it interesting because you had described I was looking here what was it? You had talked about sustainable success not being around reacting and not moving the fastest. and so I think there's people out there, especially in the world of AI. I don't know how much you've gotten into AI and whatnot. and Rick Cobello: A lot. Scott: with with your career in cybercr cyber security How many people are like, let me try to rush to the front? Let me try to bring something to life. Let me try to give this idea because it's weird because AI like allows people to come out to the forefront, have no knowledge in anything, but they've taught themselves five minutes of whatever it is, and then they assume that that's gonna put them in front with success. But you had highlighted that sustained success really doesn't come from being the fastest or getting Rick Cobello: No. Scott: there to the front the quickest. So when you talk about that sustained success piece and we're looking at patience, what is it that really is going to help somebody succeed and even though you might not be in the forefront and you might not be the fastest? Rick Cobello: Well, I I as as you mentioned, I think AI has changed the whole equation, this thing, because people can get answers, you know, in fifteen seconds get spit out and what the solution is. I I George R Dovolis: No. Rick Cobello: think it's to you be grounded in not the answer, but be grounded in what are the things that may cause you to look for the answer. And I think right now we get the answer. We don't get the things that make up of the answer as much anymore. That really bothers me and that's where I I think having patience really helped is being look at the things that make up your answer. Now you just type in any of the AI models and you're gonna get the answer. And maybe you'll get some of the things that happen, but it it's not such a a mental exercise anymore. It's more of an an exercise in how fast can you get the answer. Scott: Hmm. And so that is when you talk about not making up the answer but getting the answer, that's a very unique approach because as humans, our brain's a problem solving machine. And so Rick Cobello: Right. Scott: by constantly let's go use AI to give us the answer. And I tell people when I use AI, it's a thought partner. Yeah, I am having a conversation with it because it's Gathering data from everywhere. So this is the thing is like people are freaking out saying, AI's gonna take over. It's like, no, it's taking the information that is out there, everything that's available, and it's able to pull quickly from that that maybe you haven't considered. And so when you talk about the aspect of doesn't make up the answer for you, that's very intriguing. So what do you mean by that? Rick Cobello: Well, I I mean that w when you when you use AI, you're very correct in saying it pulls that information from various sources that will help produce the answer. And I think what gets concentrated on is the answer itself, where if we were doing this, say we had all that background information, we would go back and verify that the background information is correct. It it is George R Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: what it is that the the sequence that happened happened in the way the it said it was and not just assume that the information we got is what really happened. So I think that's the big difference. Scott: Hmm. So yeah, very interesting thing. One of our partners, ADP, if you are trying to control everything, as a business owner, you didn't go in to do the back end stuff, HR, payroll, compliance. Rick Cobello: Right. Scott: And so if you're trying to do that stuff, we highly suggest reaching out, talking to ADP. So you can be in your zone of genius. So in the show notes, there will be a link. Set up your call, talk to ADP, see about them coming in to help you on that back end. Because that's probably not your strength. And as business owners, we want to be in our zone of genius. And Rick, have you ever heard or talked about your zone of genius, with anybody, or do you know what that pertains to? Rick Cobello: Ma I have a good idea. I don't think I've ever o you know, overtly talked to anyone about that. But my my my zone of genius is t to be a collector of information and to use that information to come up with a solution. Scott: Hmm. And that's huge. George R Dovolis: Nice. Scott: And so by the collecting process, that's probably some patience in there because as humans it's a very weird thing because we don't like not knowing. And so that's where our curiosity kind of gets Rick Cobello: Right. Scott: us in the way of I need to know this. And so when somebody leaves an open loop and they don't close it So it it's probably one of those things that as you're collecting information, being able to piece together to showcase an idea, to share your thought, your vision in a different way that maybe somebody hasn't come into, how much patience has that been for you in regards to being able to collect the unknown data to give that story piece and really be able to express your idea, express a thought that maybe somebody hasn't thought of before? That can be that missing piece that somebody else is looking for. Rick Cobello: I think there's two things. It depends on who the audience is. That's one part. But I I think now all the times when I would have a a meeting to go over, you know, the things that were found, the information was found, my question always was, tell me what's wrong with I what I found. Tell me what I'm not looking at. Tell me what I should have been looking at. So I didn't say here's what the answer is. I always said tell me what I'm looking at that might be wrong. And if I was explaining this to a C suite person, I would say to them that what we're doing is w we're we're acting as just if you were running your company and you wanted to find out what all the financial things that were happening that were making you lose money, we're putting together all the information that's gonna tell us where was the cybersecurity breach in your business. So it was just another business conversation, not another technology conversation. I never sold technology. Scott: That's a very interesting thing to hear somebody s say, Hey, tell me where I'm wrong because as humans we do not like to show being wrong. And so does that catch people off guard or how how how often was it like people are like, Are you sh sure? Like are you asking this question right? Like how often Yeah, like how Rick Cobello: Are you gonna fire me? George R Dovolis: Yeah. Scott: often were you getting pushback on somebody be like, Are you sure like are are are you the expert that we thought you were? Or what's going on here? Rick Cobello: Well, you had to have a a a pretty tight knit group who understood that what it was was to find the things that were going to result in finding a solution. And that was the that was going into the the meeting or whatever it was, that was the instructions. This is not to to to to put you down in any way. Don't feel bad about asking if something's wrong, because in those discussions we'll find something that may come out that neither of us thought. So it's and it's it was a positive thing all the time. George R Dovolis: Pullshit. Scott: Hmm. Now that that's very interesting, just because it does open up the door to say, I don't know everything. I don't know if you've ever heard of I think I've I brought this up, either Google or Amazon, they talked about their benchmark having a 40% failure rate. And so it's kind of the same idea of where am I wrong? What's going on here? What am I missing out on? Because if there's something that I'm not aware of, or By them having a forty percent failure rate, they get to go test and they get to go try. Rick Cobello: Right. Scott: People don't freak out. George R Dovolis: Mm. Scott: And so that's gotta be a huge aspect of like dealing with patients and saying, Okay, we're gonna let it play its course out and we're gonna see what comes out of this. But we understand that we're giving ourselves this leeway, but the fact of we've gotta wait until something happens. and having the patience to let it play out. Like a lot of people don't want that because at the end of the day we have a weird relationship when it comes to the idea of failure. Rick Cobello: Yeah, yeah we we do. We don't wanna fail. I think the most important George R Dovolis: Yeah. Rick Cobello: thing was I always put together very diverse teams. and mean I th they were very diverse. And the reason I would ask that question, you know, what am I doing wrong is because everyone came from a different little mindset from who they were, were they female, were they of another you know, you know, I I had Asian people, I had in Indian people working for me. Everyone had their own area of expertise and their own way of thinking thinking of things. So I wasn't like the wizard behind the curtain. I wanted to find out, you know, what was I really thinking the right way, or we can refine our decision. George R Dovolis: Finding that solution, pulling everyone's mind together. That's it's a brilliant way of putting things together. Rick Cobello: Right, and and diverse minds diverse minds come up with a solution much better than, you know, a George R Dovolis: Yeah. Rick Cobello: one person with an edict saying we're gonna do this. George R Dovolis: Well I'm gonna switch up and I'm gonna a Rick, I'm gonna ask you after 40 years of being in the cy cybersecurity, why write a thriller, The Shady Side of Saratoga? Rick Cobello: Because I spent forty years talking about real things and I reached a point in my life that I didn't want to talk about real things anymore. The cybersecurity stuff is all there, but it's you know, it's I can make up the rest. Right. George R Dovolis: Well we all we definitely we need cybersecurity, that's for sure. But to really just sit down and think about all the opportunities you have, and then you're like, I think I'm gonna write a book. And what really just came to your mind to say, you know what, I think I this is what I wanna do. Rick Cobello: Well, this is gonna f sound strange, but I I I know enough people who but know me. Th this this particular idea was in my head for thirty years. George R Dovolis: Really. Rick Cobello: Yes. But I never had the time. I traveled all over the world. I had four kids. I thought about it a lot, but I never had time. I wrote a couple books on project management. I wrote a lot of corporate stuff, so I did not a lot of nonfiction technical things. manuals, you know, d all the things you need in running a big operation. So I think that was the pivotal point. I I need to write George R Dovolis: Mm. Rick Cobello: for me, not for anyone else. George R Dovolis: Well then that's interesting because what you're saying is is that when the book comes out it you really explain real life experiences through your book and what you were going through and and what you were seeing. Rick Cobello: Yeah, one thing that I've there's two things that that I I wanted to stress in all the books. number two should be done soon. I just came back from George R Dovolis: Really? Okay. Rick Cobello: I just came back from Iceland yesterday. I was in Iceland George R Dovolis: Nice. Rick Cobello: I was in Iceland for two weeks and the third book is a cybersecurity book with the same investigator in Iceland. So in in all the books, even the first one, I want to make sure two things. People learn something about cybersecurity in an easy way. That doesn't George R Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: mean I have to dumb down the technology, but I have to be able to explain it. And the second thing is wherever it takes place, I want them to feel that they're there. That when they are done reading the book, the first one, they visited Saratoga. They know what it's all about. George R Dovolis: I think that's I think that's incredible. And you know, I I saw this word he put out the crime hidden in plain sight. Rick Cobello: Yeah. George R Dovolis: And you gotta explain that. What's that mean to you? Rick Cobello: That that means I mean I'll give you s I'll give you an easy example because I I taught cybersecurity at Albany Law School in their master's program. And I used to George R Dovolis: Okay. Rick Cobello: use a number of s case studies, and one of my favorite case studies was Target, when Target had someone put just a little piece of code in all their POS devices, and for a long time it was getting siphoned off, money was getting taken. They lost billions of dollars. Of course, they'll never tell George R Dovolis: Mm. Rick Cobello: you how much they lost, but it was there in plain sight. It was it it didn't get audited. It finally got caught, but it was long, long after they had robbed all the money that they probably needed. So it was in plain sight. It was there, but no one noticed it. George R Dovolis: Yeah, that is that's so crazy. What really scares you the most? Hackers from the outside are inside already in it's inside, you know, people are already inside making things happen. Rick Cobello: I I think it's actually there's a third one that just recently scares George R Dovolis: really? Rick Cobello: me more than any of them. George R Dovolis: Okay. Rick Cobello: it's it's an AI model getting out of its cage and going out and doing something that just happened recently that we have very little control of because we don't I don't know if there's any one person who knows how these how all these models run and how all these agents run. So that scares Scott: yeah. Rick Cobello: me the most. I guess second to that is someone on the inside because they have information that that George R Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: they can use to their advantage. whether it's a simple thing. and then third, I think it's one that probably has the most failures in human nature is when some hacker sends someone an email and says, You just won a million dollars and they click on the link. Scott: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: And you like to think George R Dovolis: Yeah. Rick Cobello: that stops, but it doesn't stop. Scott: Here. George R Dovolis: No, it doesn't. Scott: So right now if you're getting nuggets Rick Cobello: So the Scott: from go ahead, Rick. Rick Cobello: I was just saying the AI stuff now, the models, I mean that that is That's scary. I don't there's a couple books that were written a long time ago about that. And they're they're really George R Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: it it's it's coming to fruition right now. So I I think as we go forward we gotta figure out how to control this stuff. Scott: So right now you have Rick Cobello: Michael Crichton, Michael Crichton wrote a book. Who he's the guy who wrote ER, who the show was after that was on TV. George R Dovolis: Yes. Rick Cobello: He wrote a book called Sphere. And it was about little bots that learned to communicate with each other. And as they learned to communicate with each other, they learned how to get into things and do do bad things. And I said, my gosh, that's Michael Crichton's book. It just happens. George R Dovolis: Ho ho ho ho ho Unbelievable, unbelievable. Jeez. Scott: So right now, if you're getting nuggets from the video, hit the like button. If you're looking for these types of videos, hit the subscribe button. And as you're listening, ultimately, if you're trying to rush through whatever it is and you're not taking the time, you're not reflecting, you're lacking patience, you're actually doing a disservice to yourself and what you're trying to accomplish and bring forward. And Rick, it's very interesting because we've had another guest on here where he had highlighted the whole AI's piece and the cybersecurity. Rick Cobello: I saw that, yeah. Scott: Yeah, so he talked about where people are like, we're just gonna let the AI model run. And he's like, Do you not understand that you still need people to watch over this? You still need the minds, you still need the individuals. And it was funny because I saw a article that Ford actually brought back, I think eighty one thousand engineers to help maintain because Ford's like, AI's gonna come in here, we don't need the people. And this is where people start freaking out. They're my job's gonna get lost. It's like you still need humans. And then Ryan, George R Dovolis: Yeah. Scott: the guest, he's like, you see these AIs like training itself. And so if you don't have the eyes to overwatch it, that's where you run into bad things. Like I've heard businesses losing their financial database because the AI went rogue. And it goes into who was controlling that. And so it it's a very interesting thing about how people don't see the bigger picture, people don't think they're just quick of okay, let's get ahead and let us try to cut the workforce. But it goes back to the aspect of patience and okay, maybe we don't need to trim fifty percent, maybe we only need to look at maybe letting go ten percent and let us see how this works. And then if it doesn't work, okay, we need to scale back. But it's just one of those things that people lack the patience piece. And they're so quick to try to get ahead, get up front. And then they look back and they're like, Yeah, what we did was didn't do us a service. It actually made it worse. And now we're having to e pie here because now we're bringing the workforce back that we cut. Rick Cobello: Should have should have kept them to begin with. I I had a really George R Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: interesting discussion with my my friend's daughter, who just we we have a pretty good architecture school around the Albany, New York area. And his daughter is going there. And I said to her, I said, Do you know what the most important thing you can do in your architecture program? She said, What? I said, You need to learn what AI does. Because in George R Dovolis: Yeah. Rick Cobello: five years, these AI models are going to be building skyscrapers. And they have to have people who know what the guardrails are for these things. Or this is they're going to build crap or they're going to build things that are dangerous. So you need to understand what these AI mods Models do, even though it's not directly part with your architecture, it's going to be happening. So those people are going to be the ones who will be around. Scott: Well, I think it it goes you had talked about the idea of discipline, patience. And so when you were talking about your whole kind of waiting thirty years to write your book, everything was coming up. That idea of discipline, patience, when you bring that up, really what is the foundational piece of this idea of discipline, patience? George R Dovolis: Okay. Rick Cobello: what makes it happen? Scott: Well, what's the underlying factor? Because if you really think about it, like having discipline and then mixing that with patience, I think we talked about it a little bit, but having that discipline to stick with patience instead of letting it overrun you or like, it's not working, what's going on here? Let me step in and not let it continue to run its course. So I don't know if you had a different way to look at that when it came to the idea of disciplined patience. Rick Cobello: Yeah, it didn't come from the business world. It came from having four kids and and learning patience with that. And it also came from I I was a a fairly high level ice hockey coach for many years of boys and girls. And learning the patience and dealing with people who were young so that they would do what you wanted them to do. was something you really had to have a lot of patience with. You couldn't, you know, overreact. You you couldn't a ask too much. You just had to listen. So I think a lot of what I learned through the years was dealing with with kids through sports and showing them what they could do by listening to them. George R Dovolis: That was amazing. I mean that's a Rick Cobello: I can't always say I was always patient with my four kids. I'm not gonna lie. George R Dovolis: And if they were out here they'd be like, Hmm, what should we say? Rick Cobello: Well I had three girls. George R Dovolis: okay. Yeah. Scott and I have two daughters each. Rick Cobello: Three girls two years apart. George R Dovolis: Ooh. How many years apart? Scott: It it's a very George R Dovolis: Who w well let me ask you this, who what was the easiest? Rick Cobello: they w they were okay. I I had a son who was troubled and that's a whole nother story, but the three girls. George R Dovolis: I figured he'd be the angel compared to the three daughters. Rick Cobello: Yeah. But you know what? and and we'll maybe we'll talk about this a little. They they a little. They they were really the model for my character, Catherine King. Because I tried to teach George R Dovolis: Mm. Rick Cobello: them whatever they did, do it right, do it the way you want to do it, and make sure it gets done. And I taught them all to be entrepreneurial people, and they all are. They're all strong people. They all have a good business sense and they are all doing things I hope because of what we talked about. We always talked about, you know, being your own boss. My daughter at one point, who George R Dovolis: Hmm, yes. Rick Cobello: now has a global PR business, stood on the top of the steps once and told me, I need to tell you something. I said, Well what, Lauren? She said, I'm never gonna work for anybody. And she has it. George R Dovolis: Curse. That is amazing. You instill greatness in them. Rick Cobello: you you know, you you you try the best. You don't know what the result's gonna be. George R Dovolis: Yeah. Scott: It's an interesting thing though, being being a dad to girls because like if you really look at because if you talk to females and you listen to females, like it's a struggle of the business industry. It's a struggle for them to try to overcome whatever it may be. And so having a father that says, Hey, know yourself, go out there, be strong, be yourself, don't let anybody step on you. But how often because there are times where you see women that maybe go the f extreme end, you're like, that's not what we need to be doing. But it's a very interesting thing because if father figures don't take the time to really instill that into their girls, like you're doing a disservice to your daughters, getting them ready to become adults, leading the next generation, being that voice to help others set them up. And so it is a very interesting thing because when I'm looking at it, it's like there to raise daughters it takes a s it takes a very unique person. because with dads and sons, like it's all right, cool, let's go to Roughhouse, but like daughters is like, no, like patience, emotional pieces, let me touch in with my emotional side. But it's just one of those things really if you look at it, like it's one that you have to have a strong father figure, but it also comes down to the dad really doing the work. and breaking generational pieces that you see a lot of times guys deal with and having trouble because they haven't done the work to overcome that to try to be that leader Rick Cobello: Right. Scott: and help others out. Rick Cobello: Well, you know, I always always instilled on them I th I hope a little different twist on things. I said you you want to be the leader. But I want to preface that. That doesn't mean you want to be the boss. You want to be the leader because someone who leads is gonna take the time up front to look ahead to see what the solution would be. So when you get to the point where you can lead, you're gonna have the information you need to instill in others what the solution should be. And I George R Dovolis: Mm. Rick Cobello: spent a lot of time doing that. Not that I won every time, but George R Dovolis: You did your best, right? Yeah, Rick Cobello: I did my best. George R Dovolis: that's what we're supposed to do, you know. I think it's amazing. Rick Cobello: The the the interesting thing is too, you know, I I coached a very high level ice hockey team. All three of them are on the same team. That provided some real patience. George R Dovolis: Yeah, patience as as I coached Aubrey in basketball and Danielle in basketball and in volleyball. You definitely have to have a different patience, especially when it comes to your own children. Rick Cobello: Right. They used to f they used to all gang up on me on the way home 'cause I had to drive. I couldn't I had to pay attention. Right. George R Dovolis: made the girls run. There was no favoritism on our side. We w you ran. Danielle, run. Dad, run. Okay, coach. You Rick Cobello: Fine. George R Dovolis: know, it just you had to show that there were no favoritism when it comes down to coaching the children and it's just it's Yeah. Rick Cobello: And y you you learn a lot, especially about leadership and coaching girls that most men did not understand. Is that most e I most of the kids I coach were 18 years old. They said you only told them three things at a time. If you said more than three things at a time, it was white noise. They didn't hear it. It was gone. And and that was what I practice in my leadership and business. We have three things we have to to settle for a project. We have to know what the problem is, we have to know what the solution is, we have to know when it's gonna be done. And that was it. Other than that, it was all right, let's figure out the logistics, but not a lot of talk. Just have three things to focus on. Scott: Yeah, so highlighting another partner of ours, Dr. Joey. Really, if you're stuck in business and you're not having patience right now because you're like, I've gotta figure out a way to make more revenue. If you're stuck at a hundred and fifty thousand to three million in revenue and you've tried everything, Doctor Joey is the individual you wanna talk to. If you have a team that's trying to overcome and they're stuck, Doctor Joey is really influential on making sure your team is moving forward. So if you're stuck, you need somebody to talk to in the show notes, there'll be a link to schedule your call, have that time, speak to Dr. Joey, see if it's a good fit. But really, if you've tried everything, you haven't tried doctor talking to Dr. Joey. So it's one thing to really tap into and do what you need to. So I find it interesting with the creative space. So being a writer is a creative outlet. having the patience really to get that in product, see it grow. and really reach the masses, reach your truer audience. So as you were going through writing your novels, writing the books and whatnot, how much of patience played into that and what was the biggest key that patience gave you as you were going through that creative process of writing books? Rick Cobello: The creative process you know came pretty easily. I do get stuck once in a while and and write myself into a rabbit hole and try to figure it out. But I think the best thing is I have two editors and right up front I told them, I go, look, this is not nice. I don't want you to tell me nice. If something's not good, you don't understand it or it's bad, tell me it's bad. Not because I want to immediately fix it. But I wanna find out why you think it's bad, so then I can go back and do the right thing. So they they really ground me in the writing to to tell me, you know, things are not what you think they are. So you have to have the patience to listen to that listen to that and the the fortitude to to take it. Scott: I think that's a that's huge though, having that part of your team like George and I talked about, having your really close circle, having those people that you can lean into. And I I find it interesting. I don't know if a lot of people are out there when you give the go ahead and say, Hey, you need to give me the feedback, like true feedback. I don't need sure koky cookie stuff going on here. You need me the true feedback. I think a lot of people hesitate because they've never given that opportunity. They don't have the opportunity. But also it comes down to the fact that people don't trust themselves. And so there's too many yes men. Rick Cobello: Right, exactly. Scott: And so when you're building your team, like having your team of editors there is like, hey, I need an outside perspective because I'm only one man, I'm only one person. This is all I see. I'm going off my perspective, my vision, my experiences. So I need that outside perspective to give me something that I haven't seen. And it kind of goes in hand in hand because I've talked about this too, is like we're kind of like a bike tire where we're the center spoke and then we have everything coming off. But if you are one of those spokes that comes off that center post and that's you and it breaks, like it's not gonna do you any good because you've lost your true self. And so that's kind of where that team piece comes into play, how you're building who you have around you to trust that George R Dovolis: Hmm. Scott: they're gonna give you good feedback from the outside. But a lot of people are hesitant to do that because they don't want to get called out, they don't want to have their ego bruised, and so they really don't have a strong team like they should because they have this fear of if I don't know it, what do I look like? George R Dovolis: Yeah. Rick Cobello: Yeah, I that I think that's a huge danger and and I think it gets worse as we go on in the years of people being able to i n not complain but to say, you know, maybe there's a different way we could do this. I think ev I think a lot of people are afraid to do that. George R Dovolis: You know, when it comes down to the changes that are coming, you know, Rick, you have s definitely seen a lot of different things. And is it the change of old technology or is it the old thinking that's the hardest thing to change to? Rick Cobello: Think they go hand in hand. I'll give you a good example. I started in cybersecurity in 1996. There wasn't a word for it then. I started doing some AI stuff around the same time. The problem was there weren't fast computers then. You know, George R Dovolis: Mm-mm. Rick Cobello: for us to get information, we had to scan the pieces of paper in. Because there weren't these huge George R Dovolis: Mm, yes. Rick Cobello: databases to get in. So the technology definitely. helps now because I mean as you guys know this stuff happens like instantaneously those scanning zillions of records. I had to pay people to sit at a scanner and put a piece of paper in and let it scan. And the the information we got out of it was all the information that we scanned in. There was nowhere else to go. George R Dovolis: No. Rick Cobello: So that's one part. And then the other part of it is being able to well you said to be able to to accept the change that happens George R Dovolis: Mm. Rick Cobello: And move along with it because too many things don't happen because people are stuck in their old way of doing things. George R Dovolis: That's gonna be a lot of that's that's definitely hard to be stuck in that area if you're not willing to change because you know, the youth is coming in, the generation, you know, they know everything. And has any of the generation why you're in cybersecurity kind of taught you anything? Or it's just like, what are you guys doing here? Rick Cobello: No, I again I think the b the the reason is they they came from a different perspective. They learned I won't say they learned they know more than me. They learned differently George R Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: than I probably learned. A lot of what I learned there were in classes. I figured it out. Scott: Mm-hmm. Rick Cobello: So they they're they they're coming from a standpoint of having people who went up through the educational system. and, you know, did some pretty s sophisticated things and they're getting the knowledge from them. So I appreciated the knowledge that they brought because they learned differently than I did. And that was a good thing. George R Dovolis: Wow, that's amazing. I'm gonna ask you, Apple or Android. I have some fun facts rapid fire and it's all about security. Rick Cobello: I refuse to answer on the grounds it will incriminate me. George R Dovolis: It's all right. We got both on the phone, so it's it's okay, you know. Rick Cobello: I'll tell you why. Android. Because one of my jobs was a software development group and with and we had to develop things f with Apple and we had to deal with all their proprietary junk to develop code. And at that point my love of Apple went away. George R Dovolis: my gosh, I love it. What's what what technology did you love the most about your job? Rick Cobello: I I I think and again it would be early in the some of the AI things that we did was what we could do in healthcare. Scott: Yeah. Rick Cobello: We were doing some very interesting things George R Dovolis: Mm. Rick Cobello: in healthcare and I was very involved in in some of these things. And now we can call it cybersecurity. You know, there wasn't a word for George R Dovolis: Yeah. Rick Cobello: it then, but we wanted to make sure that patients' privacy was protected. And that's where I I came in. Are we pr are protecting people's personal information and their privacy. So th that's what I liked doing the most in the medical area. We did some fancy things that we were never allowed even to put out because they were kind of scary. Not for us. They were good thing. Now now we're doing fortunately now we're doing them. in particularly George R Dovolis: Now you're doing it. I mean Rick Cobello: about looking at an AI model that looks at millions of people who have breast cancer. And Scott: Mm. Rick Cobello: using that to build a database now to see if you can proactively look at someone who has a CT or an MRI, and the it can come up with a match of what they found and potentially come up with a cure for that particular. place where the disease is located. I mean those are the things that excite me about AI. For unfortunately I won't be around George R Dovolis: Yeah. Rick Cobello: I won't be a around for another fifty years to see what happens. George R Dovolis: Yeah. Neither I. So, you know, a at the end of your at the end of the time, what do you what type of legacy do you wanna leave behind and and what you want people to remember you of? Rick Cobello: I I think most importantly I I want people to remember me that they could say, Yeah, he helped me. Nothing fancy. Scott: Hm. I think that's huge. George R Dovolis: That's deep. Scott: I th that that's huge because you never know, like the George R Dovolis: Yeah. Scott: the ripple effects on that, you never know who you're gonna hit and impact. so that's it's just a wide range on that one. the power to be able to impact. And I think with the writing piece, that's another way to impact people through the imagination, through fiction and all that. So Rick, if individuals really wanted to go deeper with you, learn more of your thoughts, your perspective and all that, where would that be? And then with the book, if they were interested in your book, where would that be? Rick Cobello: Sure, I I I do have a Facebook page that I interact with people. It's called Author Richard Cobello. I had to try to separate my personal from my writing life so I could answer questions. So it's author Richard Cobello. I'm in the process of starting a sub stack. I have one, but I I'm gonna expand that where I can answer things. I I believe people should know why I did what I did. I mean, why why did I name this person this person? Why did this happen? Why did I use this piece in cybersecurity? So those will all be in Facebook. I have a website too. It's the same thing. Author Richard Cobello. and the the book itself has a strong female. Her name's Catherine King. And she doesn't look George R Dovolis: Yes. Rick Cobello: at the obvious. She looks at the things that aren't obvious. She looks at the things that require you to have patience to go and look at them. And in my first book, The Shady Side of Saratoga, it's in it's surrounded in a clandestine business that inserts another chip in a horse. There's show horses, they're not thoroughbreds, and information is hidden on that clandestine chip that's used for money laundering. So It's not something that is fake because there are chips and horses. They chip all horses. Scott: Mm. Rick Cobello: But this was a second chip that had information in that allowed the the antagonist to move money around and make millions of dollars with this second chip and a horse. Scott: That's that's a crazy thing to think of, but it's probably not far fetched when you think about it though too, for your experience. George R Dovolis: Yeah, really. Scott: So no, that's awesome. We'll put it in the show notes so that people will can go check out and whatnot. But right now, if you're looking for these types of videos, hit the subscribe button. And as you kind of think about it, as you look at what's going on, if you like patience, probably need to be something that you develop. It's like anything else. It's a skills that you can develop, but that's up to you if you wanna get deeper with it. if not you're gonna stay stuck. So other than that, we appreciate you guys coming on the journey with us, allowing us be on your journey and we'll catch you on the next episode. Rick Cobello: Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. George R Dovolis: Thank you.