Karen:
Today's guest is not only a fellow business owner and leader, she's
also a friend. Beth Hahn is the president of Berkshire Systems Group and SAH,
and she's someone I've had the privilege of getting to know through our CEO
peer group. Like me, she's also a second-generation leader of a family
business, and that brings its own challenges, opportunities, and
responsibilities as we work to build something that lasts beyond us. Her
philosophy around leadership and culture aligns so closely with mine, as does
her commitment to serving the community. Ladies and gentlemen, Beth Hahn.

Karen:
Beth, I'm thrilled to have you here today.

Beth:
Thank you, Karen, very much for having me. This is so crazy cool.

Karen:
Isn't this fun? I'd love for you to tell everybody listening a
little bit about your businesses.

Beth:
We are a security, fire alarm, communications, and sprinkler company
— that's Berkshire Systems, BSGI for short. We also have SAH, which used to be
Secure Home Inc., that I started right out of college. That's the residential
and small commercial installation side. There's a lot of synergy between the
two, and as you'll learn, I grew into the bigger business over time.

Karen:
Let's jump into it. Tell me how your journey to SAH, to Berkshire,
started. How did you get interested in this industry?

Beth:
My dad. I was really retail-oriented in college, worked for Reading
China and Glass for six years, went the marketing route, and came out of
college thinking I was headed into VF Corporation or Reading China. Then my dad
said to me one afternoon, right after I graduated, 'I have an idea.' His idea
was a home safety products business for the do-it-yourself market — he sold a
lot of equipment to electrical contractors who wanted the same professional
equipment for their own houses. I didn't know any better at the time, and thank
God I didn't, because I was willing to take the risk.

I started on Lee High Street
with a little storefront selling pool alarms, cabinet door alarms, child safety
locks. It very quickly turned into needing to join the Home Builders
Association, and I hired my first installer — he'd actually go on to work with
me for 35 years, through SAH and into Berkshire. He taught me everything: how
to sell a system, install it, program it. I became a certified Level One
technician because I'm not the kind of person who can sell you something
without knowing what I'm talking about. I was only 21 or 22, walking into a
male-dominated industry, and I needed to really know it to feel comfortable. I
never used high-pressure sales — I always had the mindset that if you want to
buy from me, great, and if not, I'm here to help you find the right thing
anyway. I think that's what brought us success.

Karen:
How did that evolve into your leadership, into where you are today
as CEO?

Beth:
The crazy part is I don't know that I knew I was being groomed. My
father had a different direction he was going to take the company at one point
— he almost sold it. When that fell through, he realized his longtime VP wasn't
the right person to take over, so there were options, and I was one of them. He
was even asking our Vistage chair whether I was ready, and it took some
convincing. When he finally came to me and said he was retiring in a couple of
years, I retreated a little — I was running an eight-person business,
skin-tight margins, barely in the black. Stepping into an 85-to-90-person
company was huge.

I reached out to a friend, also
second-generation, and told him over lunch I didn't know if I could do it. He
told me there was no doubt in his mind that I could. My husband, Luke, who'd
worked for my dad for 28 years before I came into the business, said the same
thing — he always said he was smart enough to know what he wasn't smart enough
to do, and that I was smart enough to do this. My dad was a champion of the
transition — once he decided I was the person, he put full faith and trust in
me. It was a gift to both of us: I let him retire peacefully, and he gave me a
wonderful transition.

Beth:
I took over as president on January 9th, 2016. But the Friday before
Memorial Weekend in 2015, I sat down with my brother and terminated him from
Berkshire Systems. We were losing my dad's longtime financial person, and I was
bringing in a new CFO. My brother is incredibly smart, but it wasn't going well
— it had become toxic between him and my father, and they weren't speaking. One
of our core values is that if you walk past something, you approved it. My dad
and I were both walking past it, and it was telling everyone else in the
company that we approved it too. So it ended. My brother and I still speak, and
he's gone on to own a restaurant — it was a great transition for both of us.
But it told our employees I wasn't willing to take BS, and I think that was the
start of our success.

I also had my dad's VP of
30-plus years, who didn't align with my philosophies — he once told me I missed
my calling because I love decorating. I told him you can redecorate people too,
how we operate, what we look like. He left the business in 2020, and we've
thrived since. Building my own leadership team took about six years. We truly
enjoy every minute together — we miss each other when we're not together, which
is weird and neat at the same time.

Karen:
I like to think of it as being a gardener for an organization —
there are cycles, and the work of culture is never done.

Beth:
It's never done, because we change all the time, our customers'
needs change. I don't care who's in leadership politically — our job is to take
what's in front of us and use it to its best ability for our people, our team,
our customers. I have a little circle of life I came up with: I take care of
our people, our people take care of our customers, and our customers keep
coming back. I have a CFO who worries about the money. All I focus on is our
people.

Every day I walk through the
door, I think about the 145 people and their families that we feed. What we
come through the door with matters — they're seeing everything we do. And on
the days we're not at our best, because we've set that culture up, they've got
our backs. That's the whole key: picking each other up. Superheroes need
sidekicks.

Karen:
I know you also do a lot in the local community, and I think it
reinforces your cultural values.

Beth:
My parents were always good at giving back, so before I even became
president, I decided it was time for a wellness program, and part of that was
community wellness. It's not about giving money all the time — it's about
giving time. We sign up for Meals on Wheels every Friday, veterans' programs,
Animal Rescue League dog walks, and we have a Volunteer Time Off day I learned
about through Vistage. I sit on the board of Mary's Shelter, which now serves
unaccompanied and homeless youth in our area — 40 rooms, medical care on-site,
outreach. I'm sold, hook, line, and sinker, on what they do.

We also do a Power Pack
assembly every year — started at 1,500 backpacks of food for kids with food
instability, now up to 2,000. We add notes of inspiration in each one, and I'm
told kids keep them and show their parents. Last night was our fourth year doing
it, and by 8:30, everybody was tired in the best way.

Beth:
My motto is: this is so freaking easy. People don't understand —
just care about your people. I mean it. I love everyone, they hug me, and even
the ones who don't love hugging, hug me because they know I'm coming. Now I
don't even have to go to them — they come to me, because they know I care about
every aspect of their lives. This isn't just about work, because they bring
home to work and take work home. If you make them healthy however you possibly
can, that's the success story. That's it.

Karen:
What, right now, is lifting you? A book, a habit, a mindset,
something outside of work?

Beth:
A quick one from inside of work: we had an employee retire today. He
came in this morning with a huge smile, walked around greeting everyone,
reminiscing, and he walked out today with that same smile. He sent an email to
the entire company. That is success. That is lifting me. Outside of work, I
could just go decorate something, and that lifts me up too.

Karen:
It's wonderful when you get those rare reflection moments — someone
saying this is the best place they've ever worked.

Beth:
I've told so many people, I'm not going to worry about the
financials, I'm just going to worry about the people. It's working. And it is
for you too, Karen — kudos to you, and for putting this together.

Karen:
And really, you're showing us what leadership with heart looks like,
and reminding us that culture isn't just words — it's something you build every
day. Your journey is proof that when leaders truly care about their people and
their purpose, everyone rises. Thank you, Beth.

Beth:
Thank you for including me.