What would you like to see DH Tech accomplish in 2021? 

Wearing my CFO hat…  Equal our revenue and margin amounts we achieved in 2020.  We had an amazing year last year, but it was built off of a couple huge opportunities that were “blue birds”.  I have said since that point equaling those amounts in 2021 would mean we have really built a team for long-term success and growth. 

 

What is your favorite book? 

I’m actually not a book reader.  So I’d lie if I said I had one.  One of the VERY few books I have read in recent years was the book on Steve Jobs.  That book was fascinating to me because it showed just how “crazy” the smartest and best Entrepreneurs are to be as wildly success as they are and the impacts both their personality and Entrepreneurship have on their personal and family lives. 

 

Who is your role model or hero? 

Its corny as hell but it’s my father and my grandmother.  My dad for some of the reasons why the Steve Jobs story is so fascinating to me.  He wasn’t a “trained” business person, but was as successful as anyone while (I think) maintaining a home/work-life balance and being there for all three of his sons. I can remember as a kid and even as a young adult my father had an uncanny ability to read about a company and know whether the company would be successful.  Perhaps most importantly he knew when it was time to get out and move on.  He could never teach me to look at these #’s or when this happens then do X.  He just had an Entrepreneurial 6th sense that you can’t teach.

 

My grandmother (his mom) was amazing in a completely different sense.  When she was a teenager, women got married, had kids and took care of the house.  That was never going to be her...  She went to college shortly after High School and eventually went back and came 1 course shy of receiving her BS degree later in life.  Along the way she also worked in both the family businesses and elsewhere thru a career that lasted until she was almost 70!  Her claim to fame was that she was employee #2 (if you count the founder) for Ralph Lauren.  She helped him start his business and later in life was his personal assistant.  Needless to say, growing up all the Berlin boys wore nothing but “Polo ponies” everywhere we went.  She taught me that nobody should ever tell you that you can’t do something, and if you work hard enough anything is possible.

 

Do you do anything specific to be effective throughout the day and week? 

While my inbox is a hot mess…  I have tried in recent years to read every email by the end of the day.  A lot of times, that means going thru the inbox at 11-12PM at night…. But I have found that if I don’t at least read each email and make a plan of attack for those that need additional response the next day, I will NEVER get to them. Tomorrow has another 1000 emails coming and they quickly get buried.

 

What would you say to the younger version of yourself 20 years ago? 

BUY CRYPTO EARLY!!! 

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