(0:00) Welcome to the Tomorrow's World Today podcast. (0:04) We sit down with experts, world-changing innovators, (0:07) creators, and makers to explore how they're taking action (0:10) to make tomorrow's world a better place for technology, (0:14) science, innovation, sustainability, the arts, and more. (0:18) On this episode, host George Davison, (0:21) who also hosts Tomorrow's World Today on the Science Channel, (0:24) sits down with Julian Zottel, (0:26) the Chief Technology Officer for Raytheon Cyber Protection Solutions.
(0:30) Julian discusses his personal journey from early programming (0:33) to his current role. (0:35) Plus, he looks at the future of predictive cybersecurity (0:37) while emphasizing the importance of mentorships, (0:40) diverse perspectives, and learning from failure. (0:44) Welcome, Julian.
(0:44) Thank you very much for having me. Appreciate it. (0:46) We're looking forward to speaking with you today, (0:48) and hopefully we can, you know, dig into a little bit, (0:52) you know, just where you came from, (0:54) and what's going on at this company that you work for.
(0:58) Maybe the best way to start would be to, (1:00) let's talk a little bit about Raytheon, (1:02) and how did the company get started? (1:05) Do you know the history? (1:06) So it's actually interesting. (1:08) So Raytheon Technologies, the one that you guys see back here, (1:11) has only been around for a year. (1:12) I know that sounds strange, right? (1:14) But what it was was a merger of companies.
(1:16) So you had United Technologies and Raytheon come together. (1:19) It was a merger of the companies. (1:20) Both of them have long histories, right? (1:22) And it's just amazing.
(1:24) I think combined, it's like 180 years of history. (1:27) So it's been around a while, you know? (1:30) And each of them have areas of innovation that have come, right? (1:34) So Raytheon, the vacuum tube, you know, and things like that. (1:36) You hear the Raytube, right? (1:37) Right, right.
(1:38) And you hear little bits about the Internet, (1:41) about Raytheon being involved in the Internet, (1:42) which actually parts of it came from a company we acquired called BBN. (1:46) One of the interesting things is the at sign that we all use in email (1:50) actually came from them. (1:52) Is that right? (1:52) Yeah, no, it's fascinating.
(1:54) So the guy was sitting around. (1:54) He's like, okay, so how do I send, you know, (1:57) they're used to sending messages within their own little computers, right? (2:00) But I want to send a message out. (2:02) And he's like, well, how do I differentiate between a local message (2:05) and a message I send out, and how does it know where to go? (2:08) And he's like, well, the at sign kind of makes sense.
(2:10) You know, you do prices like a dollar at, you know, whatever, right? (2:14) Number of quantity. (2:15) And so the guy's like, okay, I'll use that. (2:17) And that's how the at sign came around in email.
(2:19) Oh, my goodness. (2:19) That's a good story. (2:20) Oh, yeah.
(2:21) And it's just fascinating. (2:22) Raytheon's full of these types of stories. (2:24) On the microwave oven, for instance.
(2:26) Yes. (2:26) You know, the guy with the candy bar. (2:27) Have you heard this story? (2:28) I have, but I'd love for the audience to hear it.
(2:31) Of course. (2:31) So the guy is trying out, and I apologize. (2:33) I forget his name.
(2:35) The guy is trying out various things, right? (2:36) And he's got this microwave attenuator going. (2:40) And he's like walking past, and he realizes this chocolate bar (2:43) is starting to melt in his pocket. (2:45) And he's like, what the heck is going on? (2:47) And he's like, it's that.
(2:49) It's heating it up. (2:50) And he starts to say, okay, maybe this is something that's productizable. (2:55) And it's funny, because I remember back when I was a kid, (2:57) I remember the radar range.
(3:00) It was actually in my grandparents' kitchen. (3:02) But it was derived from Raytheon. (3:04) It's amazing, the history there.
(3:05) Well, we could touch on that a little more. (3:07) But before we do that, just to chat about the observational analysis (3:12) that this gentleman made. (3:14) In other words, there he is.
(3:15) He's working. (3:16) And he recognizes there's something different going on. (3:20) Now, that's a very important part of the innovation process.
(3:24) It's not only can you come up with ideas, (3:28) but can you recognize when things are different? (3:32) And would those different things apply to something (3:36) that might be beneficial? (3:38) And of course, at that time, it was turned into an oven, (3:42) of all things, that makes things get hot fast. (3:46) There's lots of these throughout history. (3:48) Aspirin, for instance, was seen as growth.
(3:51) And the guy's like, oh, that's kind of interesting. (3:53) Maybe that's useful. (3:55) And again, like you said, invention is sometimes on purpose, (3:59) and sometimes it's by accident.
(4:01) That's amazing. (4:02) Do you have any other accidental innovation stories from the Raytheon world? (4:07) Oh, my gosh. (4:08) I'm trying to think of any in particular.
(4:11) None that I can think of off the top of my head, of course. (4:13) Well, that's enough. (4:14) That's actually enough.
(4:15) Just a leapfrog from email technology to microwave technology. (4:22) There's a lot that's happened over those 100-plus years. (4:25) Oh, yeah.
(4:25) No, there's tons. (4:26) And it's amazing to see the company evolve. (4:28) It's awesome.
(4:30) And it started off, these organizations, of course, as entrepreneurial things, right? (4:35) So it was somebody had an idea and said, (4:38) we're going to start a business and do something, right? (4:41) Right. (4:41) And how many people do you employ today at Raytheon? (4:45) That's amazing. (4:46) 181,000.
(4:48) 181,000 people. (4:49) And you must have all sorts of different types of jobs that you have there, right? (4:53) We do. (4:54) Everything from, obviously, engineers, because we're an engineering company, right, (4:57) to HR and publicity and all these things that make it up, right? (5:02) You know, finance and everything.
(5:04) Right. (5:04) So basically, it's like its own little city of people, (5:08) and you need everything inside that city to be managed. (5:12) Very true.
(5:13) So lots of different jobs. (5:14) Definitely. (5:15) And it's interesting as I meet people from all walks of life there.
(5:19) You know, a lot of the people I meet are engineers, right? (5:23) And some of them are finance people that decided to go into engineering. (5:28) I met an engineering fellow, (5:30) which is one of the highest engineers you can have at Raytheon, right? (5:33) Yeah. (5:33) She was a psychology major.
(5:34) Interesting. (5:35) And she brought a different spin on engineering, (5:38) which is what made her so valuable. (5:39) Isn't that a good one? (5:41) All right.
(5:41) I love it. (5:42) Hey, well, actually, (5:43) why don't we tell our audience a little bit about the job you do at the organization? (5:48) Sure. (5:49) So I'm the chief technology officer for cyber protection solutions.
(5:52) Okay. (5:52) Okay. (5:53) So Raytheon breaks down, obviously, engineering into different types, right? (5:57) Cyber protection solutions includes everything from protection of, you know, (6:02) places like this to nation states.
(6:04) So in protecting entire countries, (6:06) all of those types of projects fall under me and my director, who's John Czech. (6:12) Can we talk a little bit about what cyber security means to you? (6:15) I think I know. (6:16) I'm going to say somebody is trying to get into my world and unravel the world that we've created here.
(6:23) Is that a way to say it? (6:24) Yeah. (6:25) No, that's a very good way to put it. (6:27) So it's interesting when you talk about cyber and cyberspace and cybersecurity, right? (6:31) It includes all these different things, right? (6:32) So cybersecurity goes down to the protection of devices, (6:37) everything from even these headphones we have on, you know, the microphones, (6:40) out to the lights that we have on underneath us, to, you know, our information systems, (6:45) the computers that maybe some of us use every day, right? (6:48) It's all about that protection and such.
(6:50) Now, that's the cybersecurity aspect, right? (6:52) There's obviously a flip side to it too, right? (6:55) When you start talking about cyber more broadly, (6:57) you start talking about things like integration of different parts, (7:02) even the tax, right, the offensive side. (7:04) All of this goes into cyber. (7:06) It's amazing how big the subject actually is.
(7:09) That makes a lot of sense. (7:11) So we have to be able to have offensive, I guess all businesses have offensive, (7:16) outgoing marketing, outgoing messages, and that kind of thing, (7:19) not to be confused with outgoing code that we create, right? (7:24) And then we have code to protect ourselves from incoming unwanted. (7:30) And they inform each other.
(7:32) So the offense informs the defense and vice versa. (7:35) It's fascinating the interplay that happens there. (7:38) Yeah, it's very nice.
(7:40) All right. (7:42) So let's see here. (7:43) So let's talk a little bit about your background.
(7:46) You didn't just walk into Raytheon when you were in high school. (7:49) Come on now, share with us a little bit about what were you like in high school? (7:53) Oh, my. (7:55) In high school, let's see, I was doing a little bit of drama.
(8:00) I was involved in the high school newspaper, things like that. (8:04) It was rather interesting. (8:06) Even going back further, so my history is kind of interesting.
(8:10) I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (8:13) I went to a very small school for grade school. (8:15) I was in 13 students in my grade school, so very small, right? (8:18) But they happened to have computers, and they taught a computer class. (8:22) So I don't know why, but I went, right? (8:25) And they started teaching me these things, and I started programming at an early age.
(8:29) I was doing basic by fourth grade. (8:32) Nice. (8:32) Yeah, it's just crazy to think about it nowadays.
(8:35) And then by high school, I went into high school and talked to my computer teacher there, (8:40) and he's like, yeah, you're not doing these. (8:42) You're going to go do this kind of stuff. (8:44) I said, okay, so I helped him out and did all this kind of stuff.
(8:46) Yeah, it was fascinating. (8:47) I had a great time. (8:48) But the interplay, like I mentioned the school newspaper, (8:50) I transitioned them from on paper, doing the school newspaper on paper, (8:56) literally cutting out pictures and pasting them down.
(8:57) Right, those days were a long time ago now. (9:01) Yeah, a little bit. (9:03) And then I transitioned them to the computer.
(9:05) And it's little things like this that kind of shaped it, right? (9:09) And then I went into college, and I said, I love these things called microchips. (9:12) I think they're really cool. (9:14) I want to learn to design these.
(9:16) So I did electrical engineering for my undergrad. (9:18) And then I happened to be working for a lab on campus. (9:22) It's called the Vitry State Lab.
(9:23) They do vitrification of nuclear waste. (9:25) Fascinating subject. (9:26) They literally take it and put it into glass.
(9:29) And the reason they do it into glass is because they can put it into a barrel, (9:32) and it can't seep out. (9:33) I see. (9:34) Yeah, it's just really cool.
(9:35) So they were like, hey, would you like to pursue your master's (9:38) and keep on working for us? (9:39) And I was like, yes, yes, I would. (9:41) So they actually paid for my master's. (9:43) Great.
(9:44) So you got paid to go to school and increase your corporations that's going to hire you, (9:50) saying, hey, this person's actually higher up on the education chart. (9:53) We're going to bring him on board. (9:55) Yeah, and I'll be honest.
(9:56) I think a lot of it was through a little bit of luck and a lot of mentorship. (10:01) We talked about mentorship. (10:02) I think it's extremely important.
(10:04) I went through, did my master's in electrical engineering, (10:07) got out and realized, oh, my gosh, I have to move to California if I want to do this. (10:11) And I didn't want to be away from family. (10:12) So I had always done kind of like computer stuff on the side.
(10:17) And I was like, OK, so let me go look around. (10:20) And it was one of my mentors that actually got me a job at NASA headquarters. (10:23) Nice.
(10:23) And so I go to NASA headquarters. (10:25) It was just an amazing experience. (10:27) I can't talk highly enough about it.
(10:28) Walking down the way and finding astronauts and talking to them, and they were the nicest people. (10:34) It was unbelievable. (10:35) I met the administrator.
(10:36) He was just like talking to your grandfather or something. (10:38) It was amazing. (10:39) And I'll leave there.
(10:40) I ended up going to Fannie Mae for a small stint. (10:42) And then I get a call from another friend. (10:45) And this friend is like, hey, you know that stuff you do on the side, that tinkering you do? (10:48) I was like, yeah, yeah.
(10:49) He goes, how would you like to make money doing that? (10:51) And I was like, that sounds like a great idea. (10:53) I'd love, you know, sure. (10:54) You know, it's something I love doing.
(10:56) Yeah, I'll do that. (10:57) So I go over to Raytheon. (10:59) This is Raytheon at the time, not Raytheon Technologies.
(11:02) And I sit down with these guys. (11:04) And I'm literally in jeans and a T-shirt. (11:05) And I'm just talking to them.
(11:07) And they're like, OK, thanks. (11:08) And I was like, well, yeah, this was fun. (11:10) Maybe I'll get it.
(11:11) You never know, right? (11:12) And then a week later, I got a call. (11:13) And they're like, hey, we'd like you to join us. (11:15) And I was like, oh, my gosh.
(11:17) And 15 years later, now here I am. (11:19) But it's interesting. (11:20) My path is different than a lot of people I know.
(11:23) So like I had an intern. (11:25) His name is Dominic. (11:25) And he's an amazing, amazing young man.
(11:29) And he didn't start programming until college. (11:31) He hadn't touched really any of this. (11:33) And yet now today, he's one of our top programmers.
(11:36) Interesting. (11:37) So you're touching on so many good subjects (11:40) that I'd like to explore a little further, if we could. (11:44) So you found some things in life that excited you.
(11:48) You seem like you're really happy with your work. (11:51) And can you talk a little bit about maybe, (11:54) let's say, the first mentor that you might have had (11:57) or the first couple that really set you off (11:59) on this course of life? (12:01) You know, it's funny. (12:03) Like looking back over, I'll say, my entire lifetime, (12:05) one of my teachers was definitely my first mentors.
(12:09) And that was back in grade school. (12:10) Her name was Mrs. Jones. (12:11) I'll never forget her.
(12:12) She was an amazing woman. (12:14) And she taught me a lot. (12:16) And mostly what she taught me is how to learn.
(12:18) And interestingly enough, you go to school (12:21) and you learn subjects and you memorize things, right? (12:23) But it's really about learning to learn. (12:27) Learning to learn a new subject. (12:28) How do you absorb information? (12:29) Learning your way.
(12:31) Because that's very difficult. (12:32) So that's what she taught me. (12:32) And then in college, oh my gosh, I (12:35) think I had a couple different mentors.
(12:37) But one of them definitely was the head of that lab (12:40) that I worked for. (12:41) His name was Dr. Macedo. (12:42) And he was just a fascinating guy.
(12:44) And I forget how many patents he had. (12:46) It was over 100. (12:47) I know that.
(12:48) It was just fascinating. (12:50) And the guy was like, look, do whatever you like. (12:52) Do whatever makes you happy.
(12:54) And I was like, OK. (12:55) And I was like, so that led you to nuclear waste disposal? (12:58) And he kind of would chuckle and go on. (13:00) And then as I went through my career, it was fascinating.
(13:04) When I landed at Raytheon, I mean, I've been there 15 years (13:06) now, excuse me, Raytheon Technologies. (13:09) It's interesting. (13:10) I've had some definitely influential people.
(13:13) Many of them what are called engineering fellows. (13:16) One in particular named Eric. (13:17) Another guy named Michael.
(13:19) These are all people that had definite influences on me (13:22) and in my career. (13:24) And what they did was they nourished me. (13:26) They took what they saw, maybe a little seed, (13:29) and nourished it into something bigger.
(13:31) That's wonderful. (13:32) Any time we can get teachers and people who are our mentors (13:36) that believe in us and try to help us get a little bit of (13:39) vision of what could be, I think that's a really powerful (13:42) thing in life. (13:43) Oh, no, it is.
(13:44) And actually, that's what we're trying to do right now. (13:46) So I want to thank you for being here with us today. (13:50) Because we're going to water some of those little seeds out (13:53) there and try to get them to start dreaming and chasing, (13:57) right? (13:57) Oh, yeah, exactly.
(13:58) You can be anything if you want to be. (13:59) There you go. (14:00) I believe that, too.
(14:03) Let's see here. (14:04) However, if there was one thing in high school that you could (14:08) do over that didn't work out so well when you were there, (14:12) come on, tell us a story about something that you'd like to (14:15) redo. (14:16) Because we refer to that around here as we fail our way (14:19) forward.
(14:20) Everyone wants to think I had to get an A on every single (14:22) thing in high school. (14:24) But that's really not the way that life works. (14:26) It's really we do stumble, we make mistakes, (14:30) and we learn from them.
(14:32) So anyway, I think other than maybe you're the most perfect (14:36) person I've ever met. (14:37) Is that right? (14:38) No, God, no. (14:40) See? (14:41) We've all had to stumble.
(14:42) No, and it's funny. (14:45) I talk a lot about failure, actually. (14:47) You know, fail, first attempt in learning.
(14:49) You know, that's what you always say, right? (14:51) If you're not failing, you're not pushing hard enough. (14:53) And that's very true. (14:54) I was very fortunate to see Savage from the Mythbusters.
(15:00) Yes. (15:00) Fascinating guy, right? (15:02) And I happened to be at DEF CON. (15:03) This was, oh my gosh, this was probably 12 years ago, (15:06) something like it.
(15:08) And he did an entire talk on failure and why it's so (15:12) important, right? (15:13) Because if you're not failing, you're not pushing those (15:14) boundaries, right? (15:16) And you're just kind of the status quo, right? (15:18) And that's not engineering at all. (15:20) Engineering is about trying new things and saying, (15:23) you know, that doesn't seem possible, (15:24) but there might be a way. (15:25) And trying to figure out that way, (15:27) and you're going to fail along the way.
(15:28) There's no doubt. (15:29) And you have to look at it as a learning experience, (15:31) not as a setback. (15:32) So true.
(15:33) Curiousness, the old saying was, (15:36) curiousness kills the cat, but that's so not true. (15:39) Oh, that's true. (15:39) It's like when you're curious and you have a chance to (15:42) identify things you might like or maybe opportunities the (15:46) world never saw before.
(15:47) Oh, no, definitely. (15:48) I will tell you something, much to my parents' chagrin, (15:51) like I was the kid that was taking things apart constantly and like, (15:54) how does it go back together? (15:55) I don't know. (15:56) I'm a kid, right? (15:57) But I was learning at the same time.
(15:59) And oh, thank heavens my parents fostered that. (16:01) Oh, that's good. (16:02) We love hearing that.
(16:04) One of my teammates here, he has what we used to call (16:11) take it apart with dad night. (16:13) And he had three boys and it was just, what is it? (16:17) We're going to tear this thing down. (16:18) We're going to figure out what it's all about.
(16:20) And you can learn a lot. (16:24) Why is it this way? (16:26) Yeah, and there's entire jobs based on that, reverse engineers. (16:30) They take apart software and hardware.
(16:32) They'll take apart this mixer, for instance, figure out how it works (16:35) and maybe change how it works to something better. (16:37) Yes, blend in new technology. (16:40) Exactly.
(16:40) Improve, right? (16:41) Oh, yeah. (16:41) No, I think it's great. (16:43) So did I ever get something that you failed at or did you just kind of (16:46) smooth over that whole area? (16:48) I think I did.
(16:48) I ended up talking a ton about failure and such. (16:51) I will tell you, there has been a series of failures, (16:54) especially when I first joined Raytheon Technologies (16:57) and I was actually building circuits and things like that. (17:00) I was actually doing reverse engineering, so taking things apart, (17:02) looking at, okay, how do I change this to be what my customer wants, right? (17:07) And there was tons of failures.
(17:09) And, I mean, some of these are spectacular. (17:11) If you get into electrical engineering, right, (17:13) if you apply too much power to something, (17:15) they call it letting the genie out, which is this great thing. (17:18) What it actually means is this little puff of, like, (17:20) purple smoke that comes up and smells horrid.
(17:22) Right, right. (17:23) You know, and sometimes I've done it to microphones, (17:26) I've done it to thermistors and a whole bunch of other things, right? (17:29) But I definitely had – I can think of one in particular. (17:31) It was this networking switch.
(17:34) I mean, I don't know how many I went through. (17:36) It was a lot. (17:38) And trying to get to where I needed to go, right? (17:41) You put that genie to work, didn't you? (17:42) Oh, I did.
(17:42) A lot of genies escaped that day. (17:44) Actually, that month, I should say. (17:46) Oh, that's good fun.
(17:48) Well, I'm glad to hear it. (17:49) Everybody, we're going to have some failures. (17:52) Let the genie out of the bottle, so to speak, (17:54) and let's see what you can do with it, right? (17:56) Exactly.
(17:57) Let's just get that little spark and then start exploring. (18:01) Yeah, and I think it's a matter of fostering it. (18:02) Like, we talked about mentors.
(18:04) Again, I'm huge on mentoring, so I think this is an important part. (18:08) You know, no matter where you are in the organization, (18:10) if you're the CEO of a company, you should be mentoring, right? (18:14) There are always opportunities to reach out to some of the people that are rising up (18:19) and encourage them and say, look, what are you interested in doing? (18:23) Oh, I can help you in that. (18:25) Let's go try to do this, whether it's inside of work or outside of work.
(18:30) That's great. (18:31) Good advice. (18:32) I had plenty of mentors like that as well when I was younger.
(18:36) I was fortunate. (18:37) I had a guy who lived across the street who worked on lasers back in the old days (18:42) who worked with Westinghouse. (18:45) That will get your imagination going back in those days.
(18:47) I actually was taught by a Westinghouse engineer in college. (18:50) Really? (18:51) Yeah. (18:51) Oh, gosh.
(18:52) This is a funny story. (18:54) This was about motors and generation. (18:57) So, you know, those types of things.
(18:58) So his entire class devoted on that, and it was at like 11 o'clock, (19:02) and we were like, okay, so we show up. (19:04) All the students, all six of us, because it was a small college too that I went to. (19:07) So six of us in this class, and we sit down.
(19:09) The guy walks in. (19:10) He goes, you know why you're here at 11 o'clock? (19:12) And we're all like, I don't know. (19:14) He goes, because they can't find anybody else to teach this class.
(19:17) And he's like, and I'm retired, and now I'm here. (19:19) And he's like, because I love teaching. (19:21) And that's why he was there.
(19:22) Oh, that's great. (19:23) It was fascinating. (19:24) He was an amazing, amazing professor from Westinghouse.
(19:27) I love guys like that. (19:28) Oh, yeah. (19:30) All right.
(19:31) You've already said that you believe anyone can be successful. (19:34) Is that a? (19:36) 100%. (19:36) 100%? (19:37) No.
(19:37) Anybody, and it doesn't matter what walk of life you're in, where you happen to be living, (19:43) et cetera. (19:43) It doesn't matter. (19:44) You can be successful.
(19:46) All right. (19:46) So can you talk a little bit about the success of your organization, (19:50) and what's the next big innovation that we might see out of you guys? (19:55) Oh, my gosh. (19:57) So the problem is, what's big innovation? (19:59) With 181,000 employees, and I forget how many engineers.
(20:03) It's in the 70s or 80s, 100,000s. (20:06) It's amazing. (20:08) So on the cyber side, because I can talk to that side a lot, (20:11) we're starting to do things like predictive cyber.
(20:14) So the idea of, okay, we are sensing cyber attacks now, (20:19) and we're very much in response mode. (20:21) So it's like, okay, there's a cyber attack coming in. (20:23) Let's block it.
(20:25) It would be fascinating to get to the point of, (20:27) we think a cyber attack is coming. (20:29) Let's block it before it even gets there. (20:31) Nice.
(20:32) The whole predictive cyber thing is a huge part of it. (20:35) Mixing into that. (20:36) So that's a goal, right? (20:38) To get there, we need technologies that enable that.
(20:41) So things like artificial intelligence, machine learning, (20:44) they get tossed around a lot. (20:46) It's funny. (20:46) Sometimes I cringe when I hear it.
(20:47) I'm like, oh, my God. (20:48) Somebody else is saying, oh, I have an AI ML technology. (20:51) But in truth, it is the technology that's going to lay the groundwork (20:54) for doing these types of things.
(20:56) It makes sense, doesn't it? (20:58) I mean, if you look at nature, (20:59) we look at nature a lot for creating innovation. (21:03) So if you sense something is going to come your way, (21:09) but it's not here yet, your body senses it, (21:13) and you might start to maneuver a little differently. (21:16) So whatever that thing is, maybe it's a bug, a baseball, whatever.
(21:20) I don't know. (21:21) I heard something. (21:22) I don't know.
(21:22) I kind of sense something's wrong. (21:24) So that's what you're really talking about. (21:25) You're talking about what we have as human beings.
(21:29) We naturally have these outgoing sensors going, (21:32) and when we start to feel something, (21:35) we begin to prepare so that cyber attacks are – (21:39) we kind of know they're coming, and we can adjust quickly. (21:42) Right. (21:42) Exactly.
(21:43) The biological comparison is a very important one. (21:46) Oh, my gosh. (21:47) And it's seen over and over again, not just in cyber, (21:50) but in many types of engineering.
(21:53) No, I completely agree. (21:54) It's about that sensing. (21:55) We call it sensor fusion is what we call it.
(21:59) Bringing in all the different types of intelligence (22:03) to get a better informed idea of what could be happening (22:06) or what is happening. (22:07) Sometimes we're a little behind the ball, right? (22:09) Right. (22:10) And it's much like the body.
(22:12) It's developing the antibodies and such to protect. (22:16) Oh, I got hit by this once before. (22:18) Let's better protect against that the next time.
(22:20) Things like ransomware. (22:21) You get hit once, (22:22) you have a habit of getting better at protecting yourself. (22:25) Absolutely.
(22:25) Right. (22:27) But getting that into the predictive side, (22:29) imagining having those antibodies before the attack, right? (22:32) It's much like our vaccines. (22:34) Before we get attacked by the actual virus, (22:36) we get a vaccine so that we can be protected before it hits us.
(22:39) Yes. (22:40) Very similar in cyber, right? (22:41) We're trying to predict what happens. (22:42) We might not have that vaccine yet, but we're getting closer.
(22:46) That sounds like exciting science there. (22:48) Oh, no, it is. (22:49) It's fascinating, (22:50) and I'd love to see more and more people involved in it.
(22:53) Good stuff. (22:54) Thank you. (22:54) Yeah, of course.
(22:55) Let's see here. (22:57) So what do you think are the most important social skills (23:00) and technical skills for young adults interested in joining your company? (23:05) So I will tell you, we literally hire all types of people, (23:10) and it's because they bring different perspectives, right? (23:13) So if you take somebody like myself who's been trained in electrical engineering, (23:17) let's pretend you're trained in electrical engineering too. (23:20) So you bring the two of us in.
(23:21) We're going to have a similar mindset, right? (23:26) Because we've been trained in electrical engineering, (23:27) and we're going to look at the circuits, and we're going to look at this, right? (23:30) If we bring in an art major, (23:32) they're going to bring a totally different perspective, (23:34) and that's extremely important in engineering (23:36) because you don't get the innovations by looking at the problem the same way (23:39) over and over again. (23:41) You have to look at it differently. (23:44) So blending of the arts, right? (23:47) So different people, different ideas, (23:49) different let's call it backgrounds, (23:52) and those perspectives are critical in the field of innovation.
(23:56) Oh, they are. (23:57) It's a very important part of innovation in any company. (24:02) Very true.
(24:03) And again, I think technology is amazing about that, (24:07) trying to bring in different points of view. (24:09) There are many times when you're stuck on a problem, (24:12) and I'll reach out. (24:13) We have these things called technical and exchange groups, (24:16) technical interchange groups, excuse me.
(24:18) And it's a group that you can reach out to. (24:20) Hey, I've got this problem. (24:22) I don't know how to solve this.
(24:23) Can somebody do this? (24:25) And on that isn't just cyber people for the cyber tics, for instance. (24:29) It is a variety of people. (24:31) And people say, oh, have you thought of this? (24:33) Have you thought of that? (24:34) And it's people who, let's say, make missiles for a living, right, (24:37) or make radars for a living.
(24:39) They bring a totally different perspective (24:41) than somebody who's been in cyber almost his entire life, right, (24:44) which is so important because it's helped me solve many a problem. (24:47) Yeah, that's exciting. (24:49) And I think that in the world of what we call innovation labs, (24:53) and we think that back in the old days when we moved from, let's say, alchemy, (24:59) and it was turned into chemistry class, (25:02) and a big part of that is teaching people how to recognize things, (25:08) how to see things that are kind of coming and recognize them as, (25:13) it doesn't seem quite right, or how can I make that better? (25:17) Maybe a word you used earlier was you want to improve something for your customer.
(25:23) That's when you have a customer already. (25:27) And then we have other people that are entrepreneurial, (25:29) and they're not just blending problems. (25:31) They're creating entirely new types of companies (25:34) for things that are foreseen in their mind.
(25:38) And, I don't know, lo and behold, (25:39) that was probably you guys like 100 and some years ago (25:42) back when that radio tube or whatever was created. (25:46) You know, it's fascinating. (25:47) I read books on cyber.
(25:48) By the way, I read a ton. (25:50) I think that's another spot that you can definitely help is just read. (25:54) It's probably, admittedly, about 3 quarters on the web nowadays (25:57) and probably about 25% book, (25:58) but still reading has been a huge part of that for me.
(26:01) But I read a lot about how the Japanese culture, (26:05) and they're in the business side, right? (26:07) When you're in a meeting and you're talking about various things, (26:11) the seniors do not talk first. (26:13) The juniors do. (26:14) And I was like, huh, that's kind of interesting.
(26:16) Why would that be? (26:17) And it's because the seniors don't want to jade the young ones (26:20) into bringing up topics. (26:21) They don't want to be like, oh, you know, (26:24) the senior talk says, you know, that is a brown, (26:27) this needs to be a brown cover on this thing, right? (26:30) And the kid, you know, the younger one would have looked better as red, right? (26:33) But they won't bring that up (26:34) because the senior has said it's going to be brown. (26:36) So automatically they shut down.
(26:38) But by allowing the younger people to talk first, (26:42) it gives you these innovative ideas. (26:44) And I think that's amazing. (26:45) I think that's something that we should all do.
(26:47) I think so too. (26:48) Well, Julian, I want to thank you, myself and for our audience, (26:53) for sharing some of your wisdom today. (26:55) You know, it's very kind of you.
(26:57) Bye now. (26:58) Take care. (26:59) Thank you for listening to this episode of Tomorrow's World Today Podcast.
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