Ron Horn + Higher Education Technology

Show Notes

In this episode, host Aaron Bock interviews Ron Horn, Former CIO of Guilford Technical Community College (now VP IT of YMCA of Greater Charlotte).

Conversation Highlights: 

• How Ron became a technologist (3:22)
• Transitioning from the military to corporate and organizational IT (5:15)
• Ron's thoughts on communicating the business use case of IT within an organization (12:14)
• The importance of an IT annual report and socializing the accomplishments of an IT department (15:17)
• Ron shares how organizations are doing IT well through COVID and a changing economy (20:11)
• Ron's advice for how to stay agile in a rapidly changing IT landscape (23:42)
• IT trends and priorities in higher education to pay attention to (25:45)
• How to stand out in IT at a college or university (29:56)
• Navigating fully remote, hybrid, and in-person classroom instruction (31:55)
• The #1 piece of advice Ron would give to millions of people in a technology state of the union address (33:33)

About Ron Horn:

Ron is an Information Technology Executive with over 25 years of experience leading and transforming technology initiatives in healthcare, higher education, retail, manufacturing, and the federal government. He is focused on his craft, capabilities, and expertise in enterprise cybersecurity, process improvement, risk management, technology innovation, and leadership.
Ron has spent his entire 25-year career in Information Technology leading teams responsible for strategic planning, IT governance, service delivery, infrastructure operations enterprise cybersecurity, compliance, and regulatory reviews to clients. Ron leads with a specialized focus in current state and future state assessments enabling organizations to remain competitive in their industry, maintaining sustainable architecture, staff alignment, and training on process improvement.
Areas of Expertise:

• Operating as a Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director of IT, for client organizations, overseeing the development and leadership of technology programs
• Managing cybersecurity assessments to identify and design strategic remediation plans for people, process, and technology risks
• Overseeing compliance for entities and business associates with protected information
• Leading teams in identifying and remediation controls to protect networks from intrusions and resulting breaches
• Reviewing controls to ensure data and processes are outsourced to service providers in a secure manner
• Over 25 years of experience in the technology community

Ron holds an MBA in Computer and Information Technology from Bellevue University (NE) and a Certified Healthcare Chief Information Officer (CHCIO) as well as a certification in Blockchain Technology.

About the YMCA of Greater Charlotte:

The YMCA of Greater Charlotte brings people together – from all backgrounds and circumstances – to create connections that transform lives and community. For nearly 150 years, our Y has fostered meaningful and lasting personal and social change.

What is IT Matters | Tech Solutions and Strategies for Every Industry?

Welcome to the Opkalla IT Matters Podcast, where we discuss the important matters within IT as well as the importance of IT across different industries and responsibilities.

About Opkalla:
Opkalla helps their clients navigate the confusion in the technology marketplace and choose the technology solutions that are right for their business. They work alongside IT teams to design, procure, implement and support the most complex IT solutions without an agenda or technology bias. Opkalla was founded around the belief that IT professionals deserve better, and is guided by their core values: trust, transparency and speed. For more information, visit https://opkalla.com/ or follow them on LinkedIn. 

Narrator: Welcome to the IT
Matters podcast, where we

explore why IT matters, and
matters pertaining to IT. Here's

your host, Aaron Bock.

Aaron Bock: Welcome back to the
IT Matters podcast. Thanks for

joining us today. We have a
wonderful guest that I've known

for a long time, Ron Horn. I'll
let him introduce himself here

in a little bit. Before we get
started, I want to apologize for

my voice today. If it cracks
about three or four times that

is because I'm dying from the
pollen here in Charlotte, North

Carolina today. So hopefully
everyone else is not dealing

with the same issue. Let's get
started. Ron, thanks for joining

the show.

Ron Horn: I'm glad to be here
Aaron. I have been looking

forward to this. I'm also
battling with all these

allergies and things going on,
but I've been excited about the

opportunity to be able to speak
with you on this podcast.

Aaron Bock: It's hard to get you
on the schedule, because you're

in such high demand. We're lucky
to have you today. I know you

sent me a bio, but I don't like
to read bios. I'd rather just

ask, "Ron, what should the
listeners know about you and

where you're at today and your
career history or personal

history? What's about Ron Horn?"

Ron Horn: Thanks, Aaron. I guess
it depends on who you would ask,

and what time of day you'd catch
me. Typically, I'm probably

known as a technologist. This is
all I've ever done. I've been

fortunate to have been in
technology my entire career. I

have been in a number of
industries: healthcare, retail,

manufacturing, federal
government, even on the channel

or consulting side. And I have
most recently found myself in

higher education.

Aaron Bock: You've really hit
the whole game then. Even the

fast moving, innovational
technology ones too: healthcare,

retail education, sometimes
we're a little bit behind on

those.

Ron Horn: I've been focused on
finding my passion in my career.

Timing is everything as you
know, but I looked for

industries that at the time are
dynamic and being innovative,

and are open to new ways of
doing business and new ways of

thinking about how to use
technology. I've purposely tried

to align myself with a lot of
these businesses, although if

you look at my resume might look
like this guy doesn't know what

he wants to do. It's one of
those things where I've made it

about me. It's about what I
wanted to do in my career and

what I wanted to focus on. Then
I tried to, as I said earlier,

align myself with those
businesses who think along the

same lines. Sometimes the time I
spend somewhere might be shorter

one place than another. That is
because because of my career

goals, and where I'm heading in
my career.

Aaron Bock: On this podcast,
Ron, we talk about why IT

matters, and what are the IT
matters. You brought up that you

have switched a lot in your
career. I'm curious for those

listening, how did you get into
IT? How did you become a

technologist?

Ron Horn: That's a great
question. I don't know if it was

by accident, or by design. I was
strong in science and math in

high school. I liked to tinker
with things. I was raised in an

environment where my father was
a handyman. He worked in the

industry with textiles and
manufacturing, but he always

liked to tinker. I enjoyed the
same things. That led me into

electronics. Out of college at
the University of Kentucky I

went into the Air Force and went
right into electronics. I got

introduced to crypto early on in
my career. A different kind of

crypto than what people look at
today. This is from the

intelligence side of the house.

I worked in electronics and
electronic warfare. I absolutely

loved that. I liked fixing
things, I liked getting a piece

of equipment that was broken and
the challenge was to try to fix

it and make it function like it
was new out of the box. Even

while I was in the Air Force, I
got to do exactly what I love to

do. I was too young to realize
what it was that I wanted to do.

My affinity for math and science
led me in that direction. I have

never done anything else.

Aaron Bock: Thank you for your
service, first off. That's an

important duty to serve our
country. So thank you for that.

Second, I feel that it's not
uncommon to find someone like

you who has started in a
military position of some sort.

They are in one of the branches,
working in communications,

intel, etc. Then they end up in
what we would call corporate or

organizational IT. Why do you
think that is? Is that a natural

progression?

Ron Horn: I don't think so. I
think it's timing, as is

everything. It depends on when
you're separating service and

your time, and what industry
demands that are out there.

Today, it happens to be
cybersecurity and intelligence,

or intelligence gathering.

People who are in those types of
careers in the military seem to

have a lot more opportunity.

They have more oppurtinity in
the skill sets that are

available today that are made
available to service people

today than what they were 30
years ago, when I left. It used

to be a lot of trades. A lot of
people were leaving the service

in the trades: in welding and
carpentry, and construction, and

electricity and HVAC. A lot of
military people actually ended

transportation, logistics, and
those types of careers. But

that's where the industry was at
the time. Except for those who

had specialty training. For
those who were in the

intelligence, career fields, or
the electronics or electronic

warfare career fields, there was
opportunities for them with

defense contractors. The
Raytheons, the whomever.

Northrop Grumman, whomever,
there was a lot of opportunity

for those folks. Even when I
left, those same companies were

around and had opportunities for
people with those backgrounds. I

don't know that it was a natural
progression. You mentioned a

second ago that people may be
gravitating back towards what

they did while they were in the
military. I think that's passion

driving them. Life hands us all
types of situations and

circumstances for us to make
decisions about our lives and

our careers and where we're
going to go and what we're going

to do. Depending upon your own
personal circumstances might

determine that decision making
process and where you might end

up. It might be somewhere where
you hadn't planned on going, or

it might be a career field that
you hadn't planned on entering

into. I think if you have the
opportunity to make a choice to

choose where you want to go, I
think you will gravitate towards

that passion. And if it just
happened to be something you

were doing while you were in the
military, that's where you might

end up. Fortunately for me,
technology has always been a

place where I found opportunity
throughout my entire career. I

found oppurtinity at different
levels and in different

industries. However, it was
basically the same thing through

the evolving of technology. I
was fortunate enough to be able

to keep up with it throughout my
career.

Aaron Bock: I think that's one
of the coolest things about

technology or IT. You can meet
people of all different ages,

from all different backgrounds,
and who have all different skill

sets. Like you said, its timing
and its passion. Sometimes we

don't find our passions until
midway through life. It's not

uncommon in IT to find someone
who said, "Yeah, I was in

accounting, and I became an IT
person by accident." Or it was

on purpose. Or it's someone who
was on the engineering or

operation side who went into IT
because they see more

opportunity and they find more
passion in IT. I think it's

really cool that there's not a
single career path in IT. As an

accounting major you always
start at the bottom and you work

your way up and you become a
partner. It's a scripted path.

It's similar with investment
banking and other industries.

But IT is not scripted.

Ron Horn: It is not scripted. I
remember the words of a very

good friend of mine several
years ago. He and I worked

together when I left the
military and went to work for

the federal government for a
number of years. I left the

federal government and went to a
small private computer firm

which was a computer / imaging
company at the time. I was on

the computer side of the house
while he was on the imaging side

of the house as a developer. We
became friends. Ultimately, the

computer side of the house
closed and I was pulled over

into the imaging side of the
house. We ended up working

together selling imaging
solutions. Subsequently, he left

the company and started his own
company, a lot like you. We

stayed friends, playing ball and
golf together. Life took us in

different directions. I wanted
to pick up and just go and move.

And I moved all over the country
while he stayed around the same

area in Kentucky. He said to me
a number of years ago, because

there was a point in my life
where I was questioning my

career choices. He said, "Ron,
you love what you do and you're

good at what you do, and you're
very passionate about it." And

he told me, "Don't ever, ever
lose that." I think I've even

heard you say this before. He
said to me over the phone that

day, "If you can find the why
you'll find the what." I thought

that was so rudimentary, but
it's true. It's so basic,

fundamentally.

Aaron Bock: Do you owe your
friend something now?

Ron Horn: I would never tell him
he was genius for saying that.

Aaron Bock: We will keep this
quiet, we only put this out to

five streams.

Ron Horn: He was right. That
changed things for me because I

started really thinking about my
career moves. I thought about

those moves more so than what I
did earlier in my career. When I

would have conversations with
companies and organizations

prior to becoming an employee or
a team member, I would ask the

questions that were important to
me. What are your goals for the

company? What's the vision?

What's the thought with the
leadership team around

innovation? Where are you going?

What's your strategic plan look
like? And I would have them

share those things with me. If
they couldn't, or they didn't

know, it was a natural process
of elimination for me. Whether

they were good, bad or
indifferent, they may have ended

up doing really well. For me at
the time, those were the things

that I was basing my decisions
on.

Aaron Bock: I'm going to jump a
little bit because you just

brought up an interesting
transition. On this podcast we

talk about information
technology and why it matters.

We talk about misconceptions and
topics around that. You're

currently a CIO of a community
college here in North Carolina.

You've been in IT decision
making roles for a long time. I

think that's not by accident
because you ask the why. As I

always ask guests on this show,
what do you think IT or

information technology means in
an organization? The follow up

is, do you think it's hard to
communicate between the business

and IT and to really understand
the business use case? Do you

think that's a unique skill set?

It's a loaded question.

Ron Horn: I don't mean to sound
crass, but I'm just trying to be

transparent. I don't care what
the business thinks about IT

when I step into an
organization. My goal is to

change that, because 90% of the
time I have to make a change. In

90% of the roles that I've
stepped into, IT was looked at

as a cost center. It is mostly
overhead. We have all these

people doing a number of
different jobs. We know that IT

is a necessity for us to be able
to function and to operate and

to be competitive in our
business today. How much of that

is really necessary? That
question is really easy for me

to answer. I don't mean to give
a short answer, but I am

changing the way that they
think. How do I do that?

Something that I learned from
another mentor was early on in

my career before I got my first
CIO role. A gentleman from when

I was with a large academic
medical center, had pulled me

aside and asked me if I was
interested in being in the CIO

program. He was going to send me
to a CIO bootcamp or

subsequently I could get
certification as a certified

healthcare CIO. I said,
"Absolutely, that's my goal

anyway." He believed in me and
took the time to mentor me. He

said, "Don't forget to socialize
the accomplishments of your

team." He said that, "Far too
many times in his career he had

been in organizations where it
was just expected. They didn't

know how IT contributed to the
success of the business." He

affirmed in me, "Your job is to
make sure that they understand

that on a frequent basis." For
the second part of your

question, my answer is that I
work really hard to socialize

the accomplishments of my team.

I want to do that for all of my
teams. At Guilford Tech, where

I'm at today, one of the first
things that I did was probably

eight or nine months after I'd
been on board with the college,

we put together an IT annual
report. It was 18 pages of what

we did as an IT group for the
college at the time. It

contained every major project
that we completed, and any IT

related projects that we had
completed to support the

infrastructure of the
organization and the business

operations. I did another one
last year that was 20 pages. The

next one will probably be 25
pages. Even through the pandemic

I was recording things that we
had done for the organization. A

lot of what will be published in
that annual review will be the

accomplishments that the team
had made prior to, during, and

post COVID. Whatever that's
defined as. And it will also not

leave out what the team
accomplished during our cyber

attack. My focus has been
socializing the accomplishments

of the team and to create more
leaders. I've said openly to my

team, "I don't want to be the
expert in the room, I should not

be the expert in the room.

That's why you're here." We're
here to support one another, but

you're the expert in
cybersecurity, or

infrastructure, or service
delivery, or application support

or networking, or unified
communications, whatever it is.

I'm here to support you as a
leader, and I'm here to create

more leaders. And so these are
the things that I focused on in

my career. Administratively,
there are a lot of things that I

have to do. I have to attend a
lot of meetings, attend

conferences, sit on panels. What
elevates me in my position in

the company is creating an
awareness, whether it's around

the technology, or around the
people that work with me.

Aaron Bock: I really like the
annual report. Do you think that

it has helped not only morale on
your team, but the business of

the college or the medical
institution you were working at?

Do you think this has helped the
business understand IT too? And

come to you and said, "Wow, I
didn't actually know that was

such a big project?"

Ron Horn: Absolutely, 110% that
happens. I can't take all the

credit for it because it's an
idea that was implanted in me

years ago.

Aaron Bock: I think it's a good
idea for listeners in IT trying

to figure out management to take
and adopt.

Ron Horn: I would not change the
thing about that. The rest of

the senior leadership team along
with me at the college has come

to expect that Ron is going to
come to the table table talking

about something that IT has done
or is doing. I report that at

least once a month, and I never
miss a month. It might be as

small as reporting our monthly
fishing report and the number of

clicks that we had, and how it
compares to the industry

standard. I might report where
we are from that perspective. It

might be just that in one month,
but it's also talking about new

programs, new projects, new
implementations, and new people

coming on board. Every
opportunity that I get to

socialize not only to the senior
leadership team, but also to the

President's Council which I am
on, I will take that

oppurtinity. At least one or two
times a year I get to go before

the board and create an
awareness there. I report what

it is that we're doing in order
to formulate an opinion, that IT

is distributing to the
organization. I want them to see

that now we are really seeing
the fruits of their labor and

how the organization is
benefiting from that. To your

question, I would recommend it
to anyone 100%. Socialize all

the accomplishments, even if
it's very little information,

create an awareness.

Aaron Bock: It's hard for people
to have a team right now with

how tough it is to hire.

Ron Horn: My gosh, yes.

Aaron Bock: For anyone
listening, I think this is a

great tidbit to adopt from this
interview. Ron, you have been in

a lot of organizations across a
lot of different industries.

Which organizations have done IT
well, or are doing IT well.

Whether that's organizational
IT, operational IT, or the whole

thing. What are they doing that
makes them different than other

organizations? I'm asking this
not saying it's just IT, it

could be the whole business.

Ron Horn: You're right. In a
broader sense it's another way

to look at it. It's not just IT.

As a business look, COVID has
rocked our worlds. And now the

is economy changing. It's all
changing along with the

competitive landscape.

Organizations must be able to
maintain being nimble and

pivoting, which always makes me
think of that Friends episode

where they're carrying the couch
up the stairs he keep saying

pivot. You have to be able to
adjust quickly, and you have to

be in tune and in touch with
what is going on. You can't sit

in your shell and focus on what
you think your objective might

be. I think then you lose sight
of what the customer needs and

what the customer wants, because
those aspects change too. Use

the COVID or the economy as an
example of where we are today.

Look at how the customer's needs
are changing. When COVID came

along, it was remote capability,
and increasing the unified

communications efforts of every
company. You're sending

everybody home to work remotely.

How did you adjust to that? How
did you continue to do

operations? And if you think
fundamentally back to your

disaster recovery plans as a
company and in business

continuity, what do you do? You
drop the electronics, you drop

the technology and you go back
to paper. Smilarly, only more

advanced now, in COVID you had
to do the same thing. You're

putting technology in the hands
of those who can do work

operationally for you as an
organization, allowing you to

continue your operations and to
maintain your competitiveness at

whatever level it is. At that
point, people were adjusting so

everybody didn't know at the
time what the results were going

to be. People didn't know what
the landscape was going to look

like once the doors were
reopened again. Being able to

adjust to those changing
environments is what's going to

make those companies lead the
pack. It's not necessarily any

industry. I think those who lead
healthcare, higher education,

manufacturing, logistics, supply
chain, whatever it is, the ones

that succeed are going to be the
ones that are in touch with what

is going on. I say have your
eyes wide open, having an ear to

the wall and listening. Get out
and talk through phone calls,

conference calls, or through
sending emails. Always stay in

contact with the people that are
out there to try to find out

what's going on in the business
and what's changing. Take those

extra steps to dig a little
deeper. Pick up the phone and

call the customer. If you're a
reseller you should call some of

the biggest customers that are
out there. Ask what's going on

in their industry and what they
are seeing. In my case we serve

students. I would ask them some
of the following questions. What

is going on in school? What are
you seeing? What do you like?

What don't you like? Do you like
the remote learning environment

that you're in today? If you do,
what do you like about it? If

you don't, what don't you like
about it? Regardless of the

industry, how can we deliver a
product to you that you're going

to be satisfied with not only
today, but at least in the near

future? Because times could
change again. I think that's the

key.

Aaron Bock: We see a lot of
different customer situations

here at Opkalla. Every good
organization that does IT well

always has a continuous feedback
loop to their internal

customers, to their external
customers, internally, and to

their stakeholders. Sometimes
people view IT, or projects in

the lense of, 'We got to get
this big project done, and then

we're done.' However it's never
done, it's always changing.

Those that are always making
incremental tweaks and changes

and tests and fails and who keep
working at it seem to be more

reliant and resilient. We saw
the upsides to that during

COVID, so I agree with you 100%.

I want to ask you a question.

You brought up students, they're
your main stakeholders. I'm

going to take that a little
further now that you're at a

community college. Community
colleges are in the news, if you

follow it. They're being
targeted by cyber incidents.

That's a huge trend that you
don't even have to be in IT to

know. What do you think is a
trend in IT, especially in

education, that people need to
pay attention to? That will be

the first part and then I'll
follow up with another okay.

Ron Horn: That's a great and
very common question. That is

what we who are involved in
cybersecurity go to sleep

thinking about every night, and
wake up thinking about it every

morning. I was asked in a panel,
"How much of your time do you

spend on cybersecurity as a
CIO?" I said that I spend well

over 50% of my time in
cybersecurity related tasks.

because the job requires it. The
most leading thing for me in

conveying to our stakeholders
and students, is to do whatever

you can to protect your data. If
that means implementing other

levels of security, whether it's
multi factor authentication,

continue to do that and continue
to evolve with that technology.

The attack vectors are crazy
right now. They're coming from

everywhere and they're
relentless. It's nonstop. As you

said, you can look at the news
feeds on a daily basis and

somebody is getting compromised.

For one reason or another
patching is a big thing. It is

important to make sure your
patches are up to date. Not only

your your regularly scheduled
patching, but also your

emergency patches, or the zero
day patches that come out.

Making sure you're up to date on
those is organizational. Make

sure your backups are updated,
current and have been tested.

Get your disaster recovery plan
out, knock the dust off it.

Update it however it needs to be
updated, and flip the switch to

make it happen and test it on a
regular basis. Our students

carry around mobile devices with
them all the time. That's the

way of communicating with them
on a daily basis. They're

leaning more towards trying to
do everything from their mobile

device. It's so crazy to even
say this now, because I've

definitely seen computers evolve
over my career. But it used to

be everybody carrying around a
laptop. Now everyone is carrying

around a cell phone, they're not
carrying around laptops anymore.

It was laptops to iPads or
tablets, now to cell phones. A

large number of our students
want to be able to conduct

business, which would mean
filling out financial aid forms,

doing registration, selecting
their classes, attending class,

receiving their grades,
corresponding with their

instructors, all online, but
also on a cell phone. They key

in our industry is being where
they are. Wherever they are, we

need to deliver that content to
them at that destination. And I

think that's key. We as an
organization have to be able to

deliver that content to students
no matter where they are.

Although we're a community
college and we compete with

other community colleges, four
year colleges, and virtual

colleges, the borders have been
removed. Students can choose to

go anywhere they want. To answer
the last part of your question,

what makes what makes you stand
out? It's that ability to be

able to understand the needs of
the student no matter where they

are, and meet those needs. That
only comes through constant

communication with them in how
they're doing and how well

they're succeeding. It also
comes from how well you're

paying attention to their needs,
and how they're progressing or

not, and if your delivered
content is relevant and current.

Students are coming in and
asking what kind of job they are

going to get when they graduate.

Back when I was going to school,
we didn't think about what we

were going to do when we
graduated. We were just thinking

about getting through college.

Maybe I should have hung around
with a different crowd. It seems

more evident now that students
are focused on where they're

going and what it is they're
going to do and how that

education that we deliver can
make a difference in their

lives. Students are asking what
kind of job they are going to

get and where they are going to
go to work. They're thinking

about those things a lot earlier
now.

Aaron Bock: That relates back to
what you said before about

students going mobile alongside
classes and teachers. Content

and finance are going mobile.

That's a lot of changes to the
historical and traditional

college approach. To your point,
if you're not constantly making

changes when we are all mobile,
you're going be behind as an

organization.

Ron Horn: It's important to not
forget that there are students

that don't learn as well in an
online environment. They need

classroom instruction. As a
business, you have to make the

decision as to whether or not
you're going to continue to do

that. Either you're going to
deliver everything online, or

not, or hybrid. Community
colleges are public servants. I

think that for community
colleges and regular four year

colleges, that's going to be the
way that we're going to continue

to do business for some time.

However I think there's going to
be a gradual shift where more

and more students are going to
want to complete their degree

online. Students are getting
introduced to technology as

babies, and so that's all they
ever grew up with. It has been

content delivery for them since
they were a baby in diapers. As

they get older that is going to
continue evolving. I think that

method of content delivery is
going to continue to grow.

Aaron Bock: I agree with you. I
think it's going to become more

creative, and that trend is
going to continue. It'll be

interesting to see how schools
adapt around the country. I know

that I only blocked you for a
certain amount of time and I

want to be respectful. I want to
ask this final question that I

ask to all of the guests that
come on the IT Matters podcast.

Imagine that you, Ron, are
speaking in front of a million

people. It's your State of the
Union address and you are giving

IT advice to those who are going
into IT or those who are not in

IT. What do you want to tell
them about why IT matters?

Ron Horn: I'm would go back to
what I said earlier. I would

tell them to find your passion.

The sooner you can find your
passion, I think the happier and

more fulfilled you'll be as a
person. If opportunity presents

itself and you have the
opportunity to make the choice,

then chase your passion. As an
individual you are going to be

able to deliver so much more
once you do. I think that once a

person finds their passion, it's
going to open up a level of

creativity in your mind that's
going to be endless. It doesn't

matter the age. It doesn't
matter whether you're male or

female. Once you do that, the
ideas are going to keep flowing.

Your creativity is going to come
alive. That's what keeps me

going on a daily basis. I'm not
saying this because we're doing

the podcast because you're a
friend of mine, but it makes me

think about you when I say this.

Approach every day with vigor. I
know some days it's tough. I

know some days it's hard and we
all don't have good days. And

that's okay, that's life. At
least I choose to accept it for

that and what it is. But it is
important to approach everyday

with vigor and with a purpose.

You don't have to have a laid
out plan every single day of

what it is you're going to do
every day of your life. To me

that's boring, to others they
love it. I would say to approach

every day with your eyes and
ears wide open. We have two ears

and one mouth for a reason. I'll
let everybody in the audience

figure that one out. The last
thing that I would say that

relates to the last statement is
to be curious. Always take

advantage of those opportunities
to learn. Take the time to read

and to venture out into other
areas and be curious. If you

don't know the answers to
something, do the research and

educate yourself, even if it's
on fundamental things. I do

that myself sometimes. I look at
fundamental classes on Azure, or

AWS or blockchain. It's a good
review, but it also allows me to

stay grounded and understand why
I do what I do. Then look at

those new areas. Be curious
about blockchain, autonomous

vehicles, or 3D printing.

There's a ton of industries that
are out there waiting for

experts to come along. Who
knows, you may find your passion

through being curious and doing
some research. It might open

some new doors for you and allow
you to learn a new skill, and it

might allow you to be more
passionate about what it is that

you do on a daily basis.

Aaron Bock: That is not only IT
advice, but life advice from

you, Mr. Ron Horn. We appreciate
you joining the IT Matters

podcast. I know that the guests
will enjoy this episode. Thank

you all out there for listening.

Hope you guys have an awesome
week and Ron, thanks for being

on the show.

Ron Horn: Absolutely. Thank you.

I've enjoyed it, Aaron.

Aaron Bock: We'll catch everyone
soon.

Narrator: Thanks for listening.

The IT Matters podcast is
produced by Opkalla, an IT

advisory firm that helps
businesses navigate the vast and

complex IT marketplace. Learn
more about Opkalla at

Opkalla.com