Georgeo Xavier Pulikkathara enlisted in the Army at 18 as a private E1. He's a colonel now, with 15 years at Microsoft behind him, a PhD in cybersecurity in progress at 58, and a job title most security leaders never hold: both CIO and CISO at the same company, managing one budget to ROI and the other to risk. In this conversation, Georgeo and Taylor start with the best bad advice he ever received, that technology is a fad, and why every wave since has proven the deeper point: the technology changes, the need for people who understand the business does not. Georgeo lays out his case for AI with guardrails, from the newborn being asked to do brain surgery to the Workday hiring case that pushed the industry toward open-box AI, and explains why he still trusts a 35-year-old spidey sense over a confident hallucination. Then it gets practical: the four-tier monitoring model that treats endpoints as the last line instead of the first, the North Korean fake worker fraud his team catches through IP checks and shared bank accounts, the breach that lost four terabytes in 40 minutes through an unwatched pipeline, and the military preparation mindset behind his incident response. Dig the foxhole before the fight. Practice containment. Restore the whole application, not one file, and time it. He closes with the three Cs he hires for and why a growth mindset beats any single technical skill. Topics Covered: "Technology is a fad": surviving mainframes, offshoring, cloud, and now AIThe light switch and the electrician: why learning to code still mattersAI as a newborn: training, ethics, guardrails, then agencyHallucinations, the Workday case, and black-box vs open-box AIWearing both hats: managing to ROI as CIO, managing to risk as CISOWhat he reports to the board, in two bucketsThe four tiers: identity, production, business applications, endpointsCatching North Korean fake remote workers: proxies, locations, bank accountsRansomware's migration between industries, and observability on any budgetArmy lessons: preparation, PICERL, containment, and walking backward from the fightTesting backups against real recovery objectivesThe three Cs of hiring: character, competency, commitment Guest Georgeo Xavier Pulikkathara is a CIO and CISO with roughly 35 years across technology and security, including 15 years at Microsoft and early days at Cooper Industries. He is a US Army colonel who began as an enlisted private, came up through the infantry, and carries the military's preparation discipline into incident response, business continuity, and board reporting. He is currently pursuing a PhD in cybersecurity, mentors service members toward their CISSPs, and connects job seekers with roles whenever he can. Georgeo on LinkedIn: Georgeo Xavier Pulikkathara Pull quotes: "They gave birth to a child, and because it's AI, they want their child to do brain surgery tomorrow.""What does it do? It does what people do. It makes stuff up.""We literally discredit the person with 30 years of experience, because AI says it's possible, so you're wrong.""A CIO manages to the ROI. If I'm a CISO, I'm managing to the risk.""You're taking on a risk you don't have to.""You'll have four or five people with the same bank account.""I walk backward from the fight.""Many people make the assumption that they got backups. Have you checked it? Can you restore from it? Have you tried?""Competency, character, commitment. Show me that. That's who I hire."
