Technology Without Limits: A Conversation with Maurice Hamilton from Infinavate, the impact of AI on technology.

Merging Tech Trends and Cybersecurity: A Conversation with Maurice Hamilton Sr.

In this episode of The Wireless Way, host Chris connects with Maurice Hamilton Sr., a seasoned business leader and tech innovator. They explore Maurice's journey from a software developer to a thought leader in digital transformation, cybersecurity, and AI solutions. Maurice shares his insights on the importance of AI, cybersecurity, and how businesses can leverage these technologies effectively. The discussion delves into the evolution of technology adoption, the challenges of shifting business operations to the cloud, and the ethical considerations around AI and genetic engineering. Maurice emphasizes the need for obsessive curiosity in leadership and the potential of AI to transform businesses while maintaining ethical standards.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
01:59 Maurice Hamilton's Background and Career Journey
03:16 Early Interest in Technology
04:47 AI and Business Trends
07:52 Challenges in Digital Transformation
12:22 Adoption of Cloud and AI Technologies
17:30 Cybersecurity and Physical Security
19:33 Ethical Dilemmas in Surveillance
20:01 AI in Physical Security
20:47 Challenges in Cybersecurity
22:22 The Importance of Curiosity in Leadership
25:22 AI Tools and Their Applications
27:25 Future of Data Privacy and Technology Ethics
30:48 Cultural Shifts and Education
32:44 Final Thoughts and Optimism for the Future

Learn more about Maurice

Transcript

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 0:04

Welcome to another episode of The Wireless Way, and as always, grateful for you being here. Grateful for awesome guest. I always like to say the wireless way, this double entendre, you know, obviously I'm a wireless technology guy. But the other meaning is, you know, no strings attached, no judgment and the ways, the path to journey the venture. And we're gonna hit on all that today. And again, I'm grateful to introduce Maurice Hamilton Senior, uh, he's a dynamic business leader and tech innovator. Who plans entrepreneurial drive with a deep technical expertise. We need more of that in this business where we're in, as a managing partner and founder of the firm, Finovate,

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 0:44

You got it right.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 0:45

I love it. I can't wait to unpack that one. he delivers digital transformation strategy, cybersecurity programs, and artificial intelligence solutions to enterprise clients. Man, aren't those hot topics? That's why I was like, yeah, we need to talk. he's an accomplished public speaker, TV contributor and podcast host. he engages audiences on the future of technology risk mitigation. And business growth. his leadership roles include membership. On the National Small Business Association Leadership Council and the Small Business Technology Council, with more than 30 years in the tech sector, in a proven track record of guiding organizations through complex change, he empowers business owners, IT leaders in emerging tech professionals to thrive in a digital data-driven world. Maurice, man, thanks for making time. Did we get it right? Is that, is that you?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 1:38

That's me, Chris. thanks and I'm really happy to be here.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 1:41

Excellent man. it's funny how both of us have been doing this for a couple of decades, and every now and then you come across someone, you go. Where have you been on my life, man. I mean, we, we we're, we're running the same direction. How do we, how have we not crossed paths? That's just how big, it's small world, but it's a big world too. And I'm grateful for that. as always my first question, man, you know what's not in the bio? How did you get here?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 2:04

you know that great question, Chris. if I wanna think about it from a genesis perspective, how did I get to where I am today? I like how you said it, talking about the growth in, in our cr our past probably be crossed in, in some way, from some form or fashion. many years ago when I first started off in computers, I studied, computer, I was a software developer. Back in the eighties, it was boring to me at that time I was programming in a small office and I said, this gotta be something better for me to do than this. I actually changed my direction a little bit and started to focus on how do I engage with people? I went into the sales aspect of that. so I, I, I think about the, the, the 10 years and, and sales and five years sales management. And I think about leading a, services, organization for one company I was at for about 20 years. It actually set the foundation to where I am today. You know, when you say our past probably crossed, it probably did. Chris, I, I can't tell you how many conferences I've gone to over the 30 plus years and just met thousands and thousands of people and seeing some dynamic speakers speak all the time I think that kind of laid the foundation for me to actually one day saying that I have enough knowledge, I have enough resources now to try this on my own,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 3:16

as a kid, were you a techie? Were you an engineer? Were you taking things apart or what, how far back do you remember going? I think I like this technology stuff.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 3:24

I, most kids probably went out there and bought other sports, like basketballs, baseballs and things, soccer balls and things like that. I saved up enough money and got a old Commodore 64 type computer and said, how do I get this thing to work here? You know?

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 3:39

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 3:39

I started off, just having a really, really keen knowledge. And, you know, something else I think about that too. I remember watching the old Star Trek movies, TV shows back in the day when they would say, computer, gimme this computer, do this. And I say, oh, computers so intriguing, you

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 3:53

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 3:54

And so I think it all started way back when I was, a little shorty, eight, 10 years old when I first started to have the interest in computers.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 4:01

Gosh. No. I can relate with that. I remember even the Jetsons, you know, the cartoon, the Jetsons. I just remember thinking how cool that was. Chris, it reminds me my, I have a friend. you need to check out Greg Plum. He's done some TED Talks and he actually did a TED talk on what would George Jetson think about today.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 4:16

Yes,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 4:16

So it was really interesting, you know, kind of going back to those early memories and, what, formed all of us in this tech world we're in. So, yeah, we connected on LinkedIn, checking out your newsletter and, a lot of your content and where I'm like, man, this is right where I want to be is, demystifying this. You know, resistance is futile. I mean, you might as well embrace this. let's maximize it. It's like any tool man kinds ever made. It can be used for good, it can be used for bad, and how we educate and how we look at things. that filter does matter. To own that, just kind of jump in, man. What trends do you see, in business as it relates to technology in the adoption of ai? Because I know you talked to a lot of businesses, people come to you for this topic. what are you seeing? What's kind of the state of the industry in technology and business?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 5:00

AI has been around for decades, for a long, long time. I think that one of the greatest aspects of this is how do we use. The computer to give us factual information as to how we can make not only our lives better, how can we make, resolve some of the medical problems that we actually have in the world. How do we actually look at a organization saying, how do we actually get the organization to be optimized to the maximum? And I think that one of the aspects that I really love about AI and where I see us really progressing, and you've seen it a lot with marketing lately. I mean, you can actually go out there and you can generate a video, a training, and I'm looking at this saying, how do we create a training video for our technicians? And I don't have to go out there and pay a marketing expert, five figures to get that done.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 5:48

That's right.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 5:48

that AI has really taken us, encapsulated the world into another level where we're, we're looking at it, how we can actually do everything, faster, better, and be more economical with it. How do we actually utilize that technology for the betterment of humanity? And I think that that is the really positive thing or aspect that I've seen, especially the last, three or four years. When Chad GPT really opened a door, I think that pretty up took it to another level. And it's been on that ladder, ever since that time.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 6:16

absolutely. it's just another tool, right? I mean, years ago I had a chance it was really a cool opportunity to go down to, Mississippi State University. the state of Mississippi was getting like, I don't know, a couple of billion dollars to invest in infrastructure.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 6:31

Mm-hmm.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 6:31

it's the bread basket of America. I mean, a lot of people don't live I mean the amount of farms that are in Mississippi, you know, so it's a farming state. They're not known for innovation and technology. so they had one of my business partners put together a technology symposium for elected officials.'cause a lot of the elected officials. No surprise, we're farmers, you know, so they're like, we're responsible for spending billions of dollars on technology and we don't know The first thing about technology, you know, so we're in this, building and out in the lobby they had like these little, display cases of different, eras, farming. And, you know, it occurred to me, you know, the plow, you know, going from a horse-drawn plow to a combine into these machines. you know, because there's always this reluctance for some people that aren't tech savvy, you know, like, oh, this is evil, you know, this is just gonna rot our brain. And, but I'm like, Hey, there was a time someone probably said, why would I want that gas powered or steam powered, you know, plow and my. regular manual plow works just fine.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 7:29

Right.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 7:30

This is where my grandparents did it. This is where my dad did it. You know, so there's always this reluctance to embrace new technology. So it goes probably way back. I mean, you know, I remember even read articles, The time period it took us to go from horse-drawn carriages as a mode of transportation to cars was like 40 years. You know, it took like 40 years for cars to become the main versus horse-drawn carriages and horses. what kind of problems do people come to you with? I mean, do you have businesses come to you again? Digital transformation. What a buzzword. What a broad category. do you have companies coming to you still struggling with that? Like how do they embrace this digital age we're in.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 8:06

I do. and this is what I, I'm a problem solver. I like looking at the problem, and I like listening to the problem from different people in the organization. For example, you know, and say, what do you see? What do you hear? So we can actually pull everything together. I find it really interesting that one of the favorite

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 8:24

Okay.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 8:25

job when I sit down with a, a business leader and have a conversation about what we just mentioned there, when they come back and say, we have a problem with it, and what the biggest problem that I see with the individual saying, and if you could look at it this way. know, minerals. about rare minerals you have, your gold, your silver, your bronze, all these different minerals are really, really rare. when I, work with the individual say, you know, take a look at it this way. Your data is your goal. Your, your employees are your silver, and then you have an intellectual property. For example, it could be your bronze minerals that, that are out there. need to protect all that. You need to make sure that you have a fortress built around your infrastructure there so that your intellectual property, isn't stolen. So let's look at it from two ways. So one way is to look at that and say, how do we actually take our data to be more predictive, to actually go out there and say, what's the best way that we can actually go out there and be really competitive? How do we actually bring the greatest value to our customers? And when I have that kind of conversation they say, okay, let's look at that. How do we protect that data? And that's where the whole cybersecurity, infrastructure comes into place. And when I look at the cybersecurity, I always tell'em, when I walk into a place, a lot of facilities and, I'm looking around everything. I'm looking at their security cameras, I'm looking at their control access. I'm looking at their, their, all their physical security that they actually have. Do they have security guards? Do they have gates? I say, you have to look at this and say, how do you actually protect the infrastructure from a physical. Front And how do you protect your information, on the intellectual front so people don't take your data. it's not if somebody's going to get into your database, it is when, but you need to have, as many safeguards in place and actually have your information secured in a remote location and have your data backed up in one or two different places in a couple different formats. So that way. When something does happen that you're protected, your business doesn't miss a beat. you need to make sure that when that storm does hit. you're protected, because customers can't come and go. We all know sometimes it is, really hard to get a customer. You don't wanna lose that customer. Every customer's value, you know, well, not all customers, but 95, 90 8% of them, you said, let's be real. But 98% of the customers are valued customers. I think that's the way I look at it. I think that it's looking at the process, and just taking a different, viewpoint as to what do I see, what do I envision? How do I take that vision, what I see from my experience over those decades, and actually tell the customer how they can actually go back and look at it, not only as a form of protection, but how can they be proactive? How can they actually go out and use AI to the greatest advantage for their business to actually, take it to a different level. I think that's the way I approach that,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 11:03

That makes sense. So, you know, looking back over the last. two decades, you know, there's always been buzzwords, you know, the cloud, right? I mean, you couldn't have a technology conversation without drawing a cloud on a whiteboard somewhere, whether it be NPLS or whatnot. you had the cloud, then, VoIP was a big one, hosted voice. all these things were in the cloud. And then SD Wan and IOT, now we got ai. I wanna ask you a question about the adoption rate, meaning, you know, because I've been this tech enthusiast for, again, better part of a decade in terms of iot and I feel like, man, this is some great technology, but I just don't see it. being deployed as fast as I feel like it could be or should be, and that always brings me back to this adoption rate. you know, a lot of the gray hair guys like me, you know, and, you got a little gray hair. Not much.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 11:47

Its gone.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 11:49

but.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 11:49

You just don't see it.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 11:50

That's right. But you know, guys like you and I, we live and breathe this every day. But, if you're a business leader and you make widgets for a living, you kind of resist, like, why would I need a sensor? I could just have a guy with a clipboard walking around, checking boxes. So what's been your experience in the last few years? I feel like AI's kind of finally moving the conversation forward a little bit.'cause now we have actionable data like you said earlier. I mean, technology's helping us make better decisions. What's been your viewpoint or your observation around adoption rate for, business leaders when it comes to embracing emerging technologies?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 12:22

Chris, you're spot on. And you mentioned one word there, and I think about over the last 10 years, I think one of the toughest hurdles that I've actually seen was, speaking with clients and saying, how do you actually. Move to the cloud and you, you were, really accurate with that because

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 12:37

Thank you.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 12:38

envision what the cloud was. They think it's going to some, no, it's not going to a physical, a nibu cloud or something, a cumulus cloud in the sky. That's not where it's going. It's going to a data center. We had to explain that to people and I think that that was probably the toughest, of having a conversation and because a lot of people really assume that having their data right there at their facilities in their MDF closet, their IT room where they could see 14 servers and they could see all the green lights and everything going on with it. They were protected. They had security outside and you had to have your key card and get into the building for it. I said, no, you gotta look at it from different, these, these guys are pernicious man. These guys, these hackers, if they wanna get into your stuff, they're not going to go to your front door and actually do well. Unless they're crazy, but they're not gonna do it that way, you know? But there's the peoples that may do that, you know, people out there. and I, I think that was the hardest part, is explaining it to people. I said, you know what, even, even if you don't really go forward, this is like, I'm, I'm going back like eight, maybe nine years ago. If you don't go full speed, putting your information, like migrating to a cloud. I, they're just, you know, having that cost factor analysis with them. I said, let me explain to you that if you did a hybrid approach, what that means. So something, a storm happens, something happens, some kind of natural, disaster, something you can't control with it. You got a hybrid approach. You always have a backup. Don't look at this as being an extra cost. Looking at this as, as actually another way of actually fundamentally protecting your business. And I think that was probably the toughest part, was actually getting people to see what that adoption looks like. over the last five years, especially with Google, AWS and, and Microsoft, all these, you know, these ways that we can actually, we migrate so many people over to the cloud with their, with their software. I said, just keep, if you wanna be safe, you can keep your IP on your own personal server. You know, personally, I wouldn't even have my IP even hooked up to any kind of wires hooked up to the computer because if you have any kind of cables coming to your server, then you got some way for somebody can use the back door to get into your systems. And these guys are smart, said. When I think when we actually got that approach about the hybrid cloud, cloud approach, more and more businesses adapted to it and they saw the cost savings. They said, wait a minute. Let me get this straight. I don't have to go out there and buy five new, you know,$10,000 service every year. No, you don't. you can use your hard drives and you definitely wanna have it in a rate format, to make sure you have protection for it. But go to the cloud, that way you're protected. I think the biggest thing that I've seen in the last, probably two years, three years, and I, I, I. It's the acceleration of ai. And I've seen AI and people saying, what is ai? it's been spun so much in the last, few years that people saying, if you don't go to ai, you're gonna be like some of these, like, Sears, blood Buster J you know, I don't know if JC Penney's still around, but, but Sears, blackbirds, I know they're not

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 15:31

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 15:31

you know, Highland, superstores, Fred's, you know, those, those places aren't here anymore. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I think that once, now that people have adopted that they're actually looking at this saying, how do we actually do this better and faster? And I've seen the adoption rate, really accelerate in the last two years when it comes to, the use of ai. I think, to talk too much here'cause you're the host of Own It. Make sure I get it.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 15:52

You're my guest.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 15:54

But, I think that one of the things that, I've seen was there are still some people who have fear and rightfully so, they should have fear about ai. And they said, okay, maybe we've been watching too many of the first Terminator type movies and saying, well, you got a chip, you know, at the cyborg lab and somebody gets into that chip and it actually goes out and do something. That is a possibility that that could still happen. but I think that that's probably, one of the concerns. But I definitely have to say the use of. AI when it comes to, intelligence, when it comes to marketing, when it comes to forecasting. I've seen a really big acceleration in that area.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 16:30

You know, I love this conversation around ai, and you're right, it's, you know, sometimes I almost cringe when people bring up ai. I'm like, oh, here we go. what angle are we going at?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 16:37

Yeah.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 16:38

But it's a beautiful thing in my mind. Although I'll, still say this. I still believe the most powerful, amazing, Supercomputer is our brain, right? I mean, going back to your, I love the title of your newsletter and your podcast even, we still have the compassion, the empathy. I mean, I think, we can read the room where technology zeroes in ones. So, yes, it is teaching itself, machine learning is a real thing. I work in an industry where, the, contact centers are solutions. There's a lot of ai and even, taking one language and transferring to a different language accent control and, all these other cool things that, we're with the LLMs we're seeing. But, nonetheless, I mean, still we're, I think we're still in charge for now. I mean, I don't know. I mean, you're right, many things mean as possible.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 17:22

Yes.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 17:23

but you speaking of, your background and everything, I mean, and you cover a lot of topics. I mean, what's your go-to technology? Do you have a favorite.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 17:30

definitely cybersecurity. I love cybersecurity. I love the, here's where the bad guys and good guys. when I think about it this way and I look at this and say, what is the best way that I can provide the greatest level of protection for our clients? because to stop these people from getting into somebody's system it's always something that goes on when we meet with clients and we say, how often do you at test your employees and make sure you put something out there that they don't click that link and you've had all these meetings and they still click the link. do you actually go back and, and actually say, how can we use AI to say, I know my people. They're humans. They're gonna click it because it looks interesting. It looks real. they see Pepsi spelled with two Ps and they still click the link.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 18:12

That's right. The brain tricks you.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 18:14

Yeah, exactly.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 18:15

It still can be tricked.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 18:16

Exactly. how do you use AI to be proactive so it can catch that information in the front? How does it pick up the algorithms and saying, we're noticing that this IP address keeps coming into our system, you know, and they're trying all these different viruses to, in order to do it, and eventually they're gonna try to put one through that's gonna actually go through that back door. And I think that cybersecurity by and, and even physical security, I think is really cool too. And let me tell you, say this real quick. I had a chance to actually go to a, a, a China, maybe it's, I don't know, 10, 15 years ago. and I saw that they were actually putting out this, all these different cameras all over the place. And I remember what they would say that no matter what, if you pick up the phone, they're still listening to your phone call and you know, because you're still an American over in, in China and they're looking at that information. So just, they wanna make sure they know who you are and what you're doing, that you're not doing anything mischievous.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 19:07

Right, right.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 19:08

you know what, I'm cool with that. I'm great with that.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 19:10

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 19:10

noticed that now lately, that they're actually, they have these cameras all over the place where they can actually recognize who you are. And so that's taking it to the umpteen level as big brothers watching you, you know? but I still go back and, and I say that because I'm looking at the system. How do you actually deploy a system so you can actually have'em run your facility so you can actually, or even like schools for example. How do you, how do you know. Who's actually at that school or some kind of your place of business or a government entity, whatever it is, you always have to have some kind of eyes in the sky to actually see, and I know that's one of those ethical type questions there, you have to go back to what, where do you draw the line at it? I think China's taking it to the extreme. You know,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 19:49

yeah. Well, resistance is futile, man. I mean, you know, you can't walk through an airport or a NFL stadium or a major city. You're, you're being recorded. there's cameras everywhere and I love that you. Bundled in physical security with cybersecurity. there are two different sides of the same coin. there's a physical aspect to it and AI is really changing that. I work with a lot of suppliers that have AI enabled, facial recognition, weapons detection, back to your point, how you're walking, if you're looking sketchy, if you're casing the joint or you're up to no good, you're looking around for plea. there's a way you act when you're just walking from A to B and there's also a way you act when you're getting ready to commit a crime. we were talking recently about that movie with Tom Cruise, a minority report. You know, they would use technology to arrest you before you committed the crime.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 20:34

yeah,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 20:34

it's like, are we going there? that does seem a little crazy but yeah, I do love how physical security and cybersecurity, are really, you know, mashed up and something I, I love That's your favorite.'cause even I'm a wireless technology guy. I tell people all the time, we really can't have a conversation about any technology without first addressing. The security aspect of it. So, I mean, especially in iot, like most of the big breaches

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 20:58

Yeah.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 20:59

as a result of, unprotected sensors somewhere, you know, there's all the famous ones from Target and the casino in Vegas, et cetera. But yes, I was curious, a big part of it, man. are you finding companies, you know, they're concerned about it, but they don't wanna invest in it? Or, I mean, what's that conversation's like? are you finding them more willing, you know,'cause they're starting to realize the risk. I mean, how's that? what do those conversations look like?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 21:21

good question. I find more and more companies now willing to actually at least listen. sometimes it's one of those things to say you don't know what you don't know. I can get in the door and have a conversation with people and tell them something, about what our offering, for example would be. and I think they're willing to listen to that because if you actually give them some from a different perspective or talk about exposures, talk about, how people actually, access systems now.'cause, you know, just to say, here's what I've seen, here's how these people got hacked. And so. you need to make sure that you're protected. I find people more, willing to listen to the conversation. When you actually go have that conversation with them, you're gonna find out once you give'em that information, it's gonna be a lot more competitive too.'cause they're gonna listen to, well no wanna listen to four more people and see what they have to say as well. You know, so the person that does the best song in pony dance, you know, actually gets the deal sometimes, you know, unless you got that good relationship. I do find It is, a good conversation.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 23:51

You know, you wrote an article I was looking at recently, maybe a year or so ago and, lemme see if I can find it. Your quote. Having an obsessive curiosity can be a vital skill for those in leadership positions. How does that play into the conversations you're having? Because I mean, it's incredibly frustrating working with business leaders at a company that aren't curious. They're stuck in the old ways and, they're like in denial that there's a risk pending. gimme an example of, a customer, you know, we'll protect the innocent. But you know, where you're seeing that concept of being obsessive, curious.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 24:26

Yeah, and I, this was with the insurance company. I had a conversation with about four years ago. I'm not gonna say the name of them. I wanna get sued, you know? but, the thing was that they came back and said, you know what, we got this covered. We got our guys and all our data centers checking everything out. I said, okay, fine. How about this? Why don't you gimme a few minutes after you go back and look at it and do one, assessment? Just let me do one assessment with it. After two or three years of just trying to get into the door, they said, no, no, no, no, no. They finally came back, said, okay, fine. We'll let you do an assessment. I went back and did an assessment and found a old software application they were using called FileMaker. For their database. I said that that software actually allows somebody at you get into your system, and I found that their credit card numbers, a certain credit card number was actually exposed to a breach and they actually went. I said, I didn't know that. So, because it is one of those things where you always have to ask the question. That's why I love that, that when you mention that, being obsessed with what you don't know, you always gotta keep being inquisitive. You've gotta always question your people. Say, what are we doing about this? Gimme updates on how we're checking this. and a lot of times it comes back to listen to different people and actually finding out what you don't know or what you don't see that can come back and hurt you, And so eventually we finally went back and helped them with it. We did that assessment and we were able to stop that from being a continued problem. and I'll say this because now without going into the details with it, they never said anything to the marketplace about that.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 25:52

Course not.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 25:54

yes. And I said, I said, Hey. I said, I'm no ma'am, I'm the only one. I said, I know what I saw and I know what happened with it. And you, we quickly fixed the problem with it. but, but I, you know, it's, it is one of those things where it is, it is. And I found something that, that you and I think of because it is a different lens. You have somebody come in with different eyes and, they can see things a little bit different. They can hear things a little bit different.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 26:17

That's right. When it's your house, you don't notice the clutter,

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 26:19

No, exactly.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 26:21

I mean, yeah. you said something too about asking questions and that's another thing I'm really passionate about working with because I work with a lot of, you know, it's funny, we just recently transitioned from trusted advisors to technology architects. your first engagement with someone, how can you be a trusted advisor and they don't even know you. Right? So it's kind of interesting how we keep evolving these titles or these, business, labels or whatnot. So yeah, technology architect, Even to be an architect, man, you gotta ask a lot of questions. You can't just say, so, you know, you want me to build you a house? Okay, great. You know, how many rooms do you need? What sizes, what, what are the rooms gonna be used for? how many people are gonna be there? I mean, there's so many diagnostic questions. And again, if you're listening, here's a tip. if you haven't embraced, the large language models, like, the most popular, the most common, you know, chat, GPT love it. But if you're not putting in good prompts. You know, don't be surprised if you don't get great outcomes, right? It's the same way. Conversations if you're not asking good questions, don't be surprised when you don't get good answers. You know, challenge yourself to ask better questions. And by the way, you can use chat GPT, you know, if you're, if you're prospecting an insurance firm going, Hey, what are the top three concerns a C-level would have at an insurance company?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 27:30

Right,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 27:30

Whether you use them exactly verbatim or not. it kind of helps you speed up the process. you would probably figure that out after a 45 minute conversation, but how cool is it to go into the conversation already having that diagnostic question written out? And I haven't thought about, what answers am I listening for What's the hot buttons, you know?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 27:48

Exactly, and I like how you said that because you're right, you need to ask questions. I like when you could take it and say, when you can put something into the system and say, okay, go deeper. Think more, give it to me in a different perspective financially, or competitiveness wise so that I can actually even take a deeper dive into what I'm, I wanna go to the bottom of the ocean. You need to ask some really, really deep questions. I think with what you just said there, spot on.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 28:11

Yep.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 28:12

deep with those questions,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 28:13

What did you have a go-to, AI tool for that? What do you use?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 28:17

I use gr a lot. I do like chat. GBT, of course, that is the original one that came out there. What's the other one?

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 28:23

Gemini is pretty popular.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 28:26

Gemini. You know, I've used it on, on a small occasion because I can just.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 28:30

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 28:30

it may, you know, it goes back to what you said about the computer, the ens, it's a computer. what's the weather in Chicago today? I don't have to look it up anymore. It's that convenient. But, those are really good ones. there's, a few other ones that's coming out right now that's really good. I can actually take a situation with, or look at something, say I need some deeper analysis of what this is really trying to tell me. and I use that chat. GPT or gr or,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 28:55

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 28:56

what are the other, there's some Gemini or whatever you,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 28:59

Yeah,

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 28:59

to go back and take it to a different level.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 29:01

That's awesome. So, just pivoting a little bit, you know, looking forward, you know, we've talked about your past and what we're seeing now, but looking forward, is there one emerging regulatory policy shift, around data privacy or technology ethics that you believe deserves more attention?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 29:17

You know, I just told you how much I love AI and cybersecurity, that's. everything I think of is just, a way of cybersecurity, physical security. that keeps me up when I think about it is what we talked about with the Terminator movie.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 29:31

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 29:32

and that is somebody out there because there are some people out there who don't have great intentions, and it just only takes one. a concern of mine would be somebody can take some of the technology and use it for something bad. For example, and this is a fun thing, you know, we all know who Tom Brady is. You know, and I can't think of Tom Brady's dog name, but Tom Brady a few years ago, a couple years ago, he cloned his dog.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 29:56

right.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 29:57

you heard that

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 29:57

I saw that.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 29:58

That, which is cool that he cloned his dog. you have to look at the ethics of that. He cloned his dog. happens when we get to the point where we actually saying, you know what, I really like NFL, I want some, some DNA, I want to manipulate this DNA'cause I, I want my my son to be six foot six. I want him to be 225 pounds and that I want him to have these particular characteristics. What, when do you get to the point that you can actually create the person that you want, you know? And, when, when you start doing things like that, I think we, we crossed the line. Right now, they're doing it and they, they're doing it within, with, they're saying we're doing it for predictive health. If we see something, we wanna make sure that if your family is inclined or prone to this particular, something that's really bad, like a cancer, whatever the case will be, we can nip that in the. Early and we could do it. I said, okay, I can see it. But what happens when you, that one, Dr. Frankenstein comes out there and crosses the line. I think we have to be really careful because, we have to look at the regulations we could do it here in the States. We could do it in, a lot of other, really great countries. But what happens if you get to the one country or one person that they don't have that control in place and the people go out there and do something bad? I think that we're. setting ourself up for something that could be, disastrous in the future, that can happen with it. And I'm not saying that to be a naysayer, I'm just saying to be more

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 31:17

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 31:17

because, people need to, you know, sometimes we don't live in a, utopia world that we do have some people out there who actually have some, ill-gotten, intentions

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 31:27

Yeah. No notorious intentions. I would, people would say I'm a very optimistic, positive person, but I can't argue your point, man, because, you know, what's the saying Absolute power corrupts Absolutely. I mean, yeah, you're right. you think about, genetically modified foods, you know, we're finding out now that there's a lot of downsides to that. it's causing cancers and diseases and, you know, anytime a man is. Inserted himself in the creativity, the creation process, it usually just doesn't go that well. You know, there, there's always these unintended consequences, and I think that's, you're right. At some point if it hadn't happened already, we just haven't heard about it. they're keeping it under wraps. But, you know, that's something we have to be mindful of. but what can we do about it, I guess. I mean that we can't, if they're in the shadows, we can't. By the time we find out it might be too late. Right.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 32:11

Right. and I think there's some people out there, like Elon Musk has really spoken out on this topic. you've had, even, mark Zuckerberg has spoken out about it and said, Hey guys, we gotta slow it down here a little bit. Let's really take a deep dive and understand what's really happening here. and I think that we are seeing, especially our culture here in the, United States. Over the last 10 years has really dramatically changed. Even when I look at kids

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 32:34

Yeah.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 32:34

I was going someplace to a meeting one day and I don't remember. It's like 10 30 in the morning. And I'm seeing these little kids outside. So what whatcha doing? And they said, oh, we're on fall break. I said, fall break. What is a fall break? You just started school like two months ago. You are on fall break. They said, well, we need a break. So what do you need a break for? You know? And I'm saying the hours are shortened. The, they have all these different breaks built into it, and there's graduation from fourth grade to sixth grade. And it's what, what? And I said, I'm, I'm, I'm old school. And I said, do you really need that? you need some of those foundational principles in order to, to really, you need to be in school. You need to learn how to work with people. you guys need to learn how to intertwine with each other and not use social media. phone actually communicate, but I, I, I think that one of the things we're seeing is our culture has changed and is shifting a lot one of the concerns, going back to your question about some of the regulations and some of the big concerns, and I think that may have in the near future, it may. cause a problem if people are less exposed to how dynamic it is for you and I to have a conversation like this and everybody to interact with each other. If you are using the computers more, it could be a problem in the future,

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 33:45

Yeah. Well, now I got three granddaughters and one on the way, and I often do wonder what their life, how different their lives can be than mine. You know, going back to, coming up, I mean, I remember, school. Started, after Labor Day, but now it starts different times. They get out different times, more breaks.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 34:02

Yeah.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 34:03

pretty crazy. we got rid of shop, you know, even Home Egg. I mean, some of those classes. If it wasn't for Home Egg Man, I don't, I would, that's where I learned to cook, you know, as a, as a kid of a, i, a single mom, you know, work as a single mom. If it wasn't for home, I wouldn't know how to make macaroni and cheese,

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 34:17

Exactly. You need those glasses.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 34:18

Yeah. well, man, it's been a great conversation, Maurice. I know we just kind of hit the top of, all these topics, the tip of the iceberg kind of stuff. definitely check the show notes, guys. I'll have, a link to learn more about, Maurice and his organization, his newsletter. so check the show notes, but man, as we wrap up, is there anything we didn't hit on? Any last words, anything else you wanna leave us with?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 34:40

you know, Chris, I think this was a really great, podcast And I think both of our optimism about the future and where we are today and where we're going, there are so many possibilities. I think that there are so many different careers that are being created right now. there are gonna be some jobs that may be eliminated. are you really concerned about robotics? it is gonna enable us to be a more productive society or just look at it from a macro view, not a micro view. I think that this conversation is really good. And I think that if anything, we should have people just look at AI in your particular life. Look at it in your business and say, how can I actually fundamentally take my business from here to the next rung in the ladder and maybe the next rung in the ladder, and actually be more effective? And even make your employees happier because they're more productive. you don't have to just think about it as getting rid of people. Just think about repurposing and say, you know what? We're gonna do this with ai. How about you can actually help me with this, so that way we can build a better society based off of ai. that's my outtake.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 35:36

Fantastic man. I wanna go back to your quote, man. Having obsessive curiosity can be a vital skill for those in leadership positions. And by the way, leadership doesn't, you don't have to have the title. To be a leader, an organization. you could be a tier one help desk technician and still be a leader in your organization. So don't let your title or your ranking in an organization determine whether you're a leader or not. I mean, some of the best leaders I've met didn't have the VP title or director title. I mean, there's good leaderships out there. Being curious, man, how can we do this better? How can I use this AI as a tool to make me more efficient and effective? You know, asking those questions and checking out, Maurice's newsletter and if you're a business struggling with it, obviously give him a call. Man, I think it could help you out, right? you wouldn't be opposed to that, would you?

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 36:21

No, not at all.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 36:22

Well, fantastic man. Thanks for making, time for me today. Time for us and sharing, your journey with us and your insights. So thank you.

maurice-o-hamilton-sr-_1_11-11-2025_082405: 36:30

Thank you, Chris. I appreciate you having me on.

chris_1_11-11-2025_092405: 36:33

Yeah. There you go folks. Another episode of The Wireless Way and as always. If any comment or any part of this conversation kind of hit home, or you thought about a customer, you thought about a client, thought about a colleague, share this episode with'em. I really appreciate it. That's the whole goal of the show is say, how can we share knowledge? How can we, you know, what's the say in, rising tide rises all boats. You know, iron sharpens iron. That's really the goal here is, you know, we're all kind on this journey together on this big rock hurling through space and, and the more we can help each other out, you know, I, I believe we're definitely a lot more in common than we do, the difference. So let's embrace our commonalities and the journeys we're on. thanks for listening. be sure to check out the wireless way.net if you wanna be in touch or you have a, a suggestion for a guest or a topic. Love to hear from you. the best way to do that is, at the website, contact us button on the wireless way.net. have a fantastic remainder of your week and we'll see you next time on the Wireless Way.