Weekly Briefing THE BOSS’ MANAGEMENT STRATEGY Steve Klein, president of Media Distributors Inc. in Studio City, always prided himself on being a “hands on” manager that kept himself abreast of every aspect of his videotape and motion picture film stock business. That seemed like an asset back in 2000 when revenue jumped from $6 million to $12 million. But when business slowed last year, Klein couldn’t quite put his finger on how to solve the problem. So, Klein investigated a program for entrepreneurs at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. Eventually, a reinvigorated company had cut its costs, streamlined its operations and sparked a $3 million growth in revenue, not as dramatic as the doubling of revenue the previous year, but still solid growth. Klein spoke to Business Journal reporter Carlos Martinez about the changes. “I thought I needed help, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. My banker suggested that I try this management program at UCLA’s Anderson School, called MDE (Management Development for Entrepreneurs). I didn’t think I needed to do that, but I went ahead anyway. And it changed everything. “The class really helped me overcome some management problems that were at the bottom of everything we were experiencing. I found out about cash flow, inventory levels, setting goals and expectations. “The most important thing was delegating responsibilities. I was doing everything, it seemed. It wasn’t efficient and it was costing us more. I found out I needed to delegate more and trust people more with their jobs. I realized this when they gave a test and asked, ‘When was the last time you changed a light bulb?’ and I said, ‘The other day.’ “I immediately failed that quiz. I had 30 people working for me and I’m changing light bulbs. “After I delegated more to people, you could see the changes. Things were getting done faster and I didn’t have to be in the middle of everything. “We started having meetings where we started working with customer service techniques and where we worked on big things and little ones, like telling the customer, ‘Did you know we also handle this product?’ “I realize the company is not just dependent on me, but on all the personnel we have. With more responsibility, the employees felt like they had a bigger stake in the company.”