Only a few steps separate the streets where the homeless camp on the sidewalk from the office of Kevin Murray, a former state senator and Hollywood talent agent. Murray works as chief executive at the Weingart Center Association for the homeless in downtown Los Angeles. While the most common approach for non-profits is to offer the homeless shelter for a night, Weingart tries to solve the challenge by providing room and board for six months along with job training and counseling. In 2011, the center placed nearly 600 people in jobs. Murray also is managing partner at Murray Group, a legal consulting firm he runs from his home in View Park. His professional career began in 1982, when he landed a job in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency, a Hollywood entertainment agency. While there, he studied law and business at night, and eventually became a music agent, with clients including Bobby Brown, Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan. He left the agency in 1989 to open a private law practice. He was elected to the Assembly in 1994, and after serving two terms, won a state Senate seat in 1998. He left electoral politics in 2006 when he was termed out and returned to work briefly at William Morris before founding Murray Group. He met with the Business Journal in his office at Weingart to discuss his intuitive approach to career decisions and what the homeless have taught him about dealing with people.

Question: Why did you take the job of running a non-profit serving the homeless?

Answer: I started serving on the board because I’m interested in public service. The CEO left the agency, and I was asked to be CEO. It was opportunistic.

Was that a turning point for your career?

I don’t have turning points, I have opportunities. I’ve prepared myself for opportunities, then lived my life taking as many of them as possible.

What is the hardest part of your job?

Seeing all the people you can’t help, either because of sheer numbers or because they don’t want help. We placed 594 people in jobs in 2011. But if you look out my window, there are thousands more. The idea that there are people out there that you can’t help – that’s hard. You feel like you’re on this wheel and no matter how well you do, there are more people to serve.

Do you still work as a lawyer?

Yes. Murray Group is a law and consulting firm that works in entertainment and government relations. It’s an odd combination, but those are my skills.

How do you juggle Murray Group with running the Weingart Center?

Technology has made me a good multitasker. With a lap top and BlackBerry, I can work from anywhere. Weingart is another thing on my plate at the moment.

How did you break into show business?

Like many Hollywood wannabes, I started out in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency.

What path did you take to get that job?

I had studied accounting at California State University, Northridge, and while there I organized the concerts on campus. One time I booked George Benson, so I became friendly with his agent at William Morris. When I left college, I asked him for a job.

Did he give it to you?

Not exactly. To work in the mailroom you need a college degree, and three senior agents have to interview you and sign off. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Why?

I got to meet important people. I read the deal memos and contracts for some of the biggest stars in the world. I delivered packages to the studios, so I met the managers and their secretaries. That formed a lot of relationships that helped me later on.

Do you stay in contact with your mailroom co-workers?

Yes, the mailroom is sort of like pledging to a fraternity. You’re always friends with your line brothers.

How did you become an agent?

I went to business school and law school at night. Eventually, I became an agent in the music department.

Who were some of your clients?

Smokey Robinson, Bobby Brown.

How did you move into politics?

Gwynn Moore, the woman who represented the district where I lived, decided to run for secretary of state. That created an open seat – in other words, an opportunity.

How were you prepared for this?

My father was always in politics. He had run campaigns. He was known for running a slate called the California Democrat. It was a list of candidates that people got in the mail, mostly in African-American precincts.

Did he ever serve in office?

Not when I was growing up. Later, he was in the Assembly from 1988 to 1996. We served one term together in the Assembly, the only time in California history when a father and son served at the same time.

What was your favorite law that you sponsored?

I did the first bill in the country on identity theft. Prior to that, identity theft wasn’t a crime. Also, I was the go-to guy for the movie and entertainment industry, so I sponsored most of the antipiracy legislation.

What was your childhood like?

Pretty good. I’m the oldest child and I have a sister who is a deputy district attorney. While we weren’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, my parents tried to provide opportunities for us. We never felt limited by race or anything else.

What did your parents do for a living?

My father was involved in politics. My mother was a stay-at-home mom, active in PTA and other civic organizations. I grew up in the 1960s, so civil rights was happening. Both my parents went to college, so it was a solidly middle-class, but not upper-class, childhood.

Where did you grow up?

View Park, a neighborhood in unincorporated Los Angeles County. I still live there. My father still lives in the house I grew up in. We live seven blocks away. It’s also the neighborhood I represented in the Legislature.

What have you learned at Weingart?

“There, but for the grace of God, go I.” We’re all a few paychecks or bad decisions away from being homeless. When you hear their stories, you understand that we’re not that different. The one job interview that didn’t go well or the business investment that went south, next thing you know a few missed mortgage payments – and you could be here.

What could’ve happened to you?

I was in the entertainment business in the 1980s. Drugs were rampant. I’m more lucky than smart in that I wasn’t tempted. Otherwise, my life could have been much different. And I know people whose lives went that way.

Did the fact that 70 percent of the homeless served at Weingart are African-American figure in your decision to work here?

No. I didn’t think about it that way. But that’s a fact.

How has Weingart changed your management style?

It’s amazing how much value you can impart just by looking someone in the eye and saying hi, as opposed to averting your eyes as you walk past. Weingart offers people a certain amount of dignity.

How do you instill that in your staff?

When people interview for a job here, we ask them if they can walk down the street and shake a homeless person’s hand and engage in conversation. Sometimes they’re hostile – can you push through that? Because there are a lot of people who want to help the homeless from afar.

Can you weed out those people?

Yes, with location. From my office window you can hear the guys outside on the street. We’re not in some nice office building trying to figure out how to help the homeless. Some of the best meaning, nice, middle-class people just couldn’t come down here every day. We’ve had people see our job postings and drive down here. When they see the place, they decide not to interview.

How have you changed Weingart?

A couple months ago, we decided to expand into AB109 reintroduction housing. AB 109 is the law that authorizes the release of prisoners back into society. The nonviolent ones will need housing. We identified a building and secured a grant for about $1 million to buy and refurbish it to house about 100 ex-prisoners. That’s a program that has come to fruition in four months.

What was the craziest experience of your career?

I can’t really think of one. I’m the type of person that once I do something – good, bad or indifferent – I move on to the next thing. I don’t think back. I can’t think of a nutty or crazy story.

Then what’s the next thing you’re moving on to?

I want to do something entrepreneurial in renewable energy. I’ll always stay connected to the entertainment business – there are a couple of movie and TV ideas that I have. But I anticipate my next move will be entrepreneurial.

What was the hardest decision in your life?

I’m not an agonizer. I would rather make the wrong decision and then try to work my way out of it than spend a lot of time agonizing over it and possibly make the wrong decision anyway. But running for public office was a hard decision. Even though I knew a lot about it, you have to decide whether to subject yourself to the scrutiny.

How do you make tough decisions?

Most of the time, most people’s instincts are right. Nearly everyone can say, “My first instinct was this, but then I changed my mind. I should have gone with my first instinct.” I agree – go with your first instinct.

What if you’re wrong?

Then you have to work your way through the mistake. You have to accept the fact you’ll make mistakes and bad decisions. If you look at history, almost everybody who was a great success failed miserably at one point in their lives. Success is basically a comeback.

Who are your favorite examples?

Steve Jobs got thrown out of the company he started. Donald Trump went bankrupt a couple of times. Einstein failed math. Richard Branson almost went bankrupt. They all failed horribly at something. Everyone has had a bad call that took them to the brink. They bounced back, so that resilience is what separates them.

Who are your heroes?

I greatly admired Lyndon Johnson for his ability to get things done. That doesn’t mean he was a great man or a nice person, but he got things done. I learned a lot from Willie Brown. Also, it would be easy to say Steve Jobs, because he’s on everyone’s mind.

How do you select these people?

Each one had an amazing skill that I admire. I try to take the best from the major historical figures. You start with Jesus, go through the Medicis, and end with Lyndon Johnson and Steve Jobs.

Finally, what excites you?

Unique experiences. If you go on the road with a rock band, you see a different perspective on life. I’ve met Bill Clinton a couple times. I’ve been on stage with the Rolling Stones. I’ve been to the Grammys and Oscars. I went skydiving. I’m not really a daredevil, but I seek out these unique experiences.

Kevin Murray

Title: Chief Executive

Organization: Weingart Center Association

Born: Los Angeles; 1960.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Cal State Northridge; M.B.A., Loyola Marymount University; law degree, Loyola Law School.

Most Influential People: Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, executives at William Morris.

Personal: Lives in View Park with his wife, Janice, and two children, a 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.

Activities: News junkie, constantly reading newspapers and magazines. Attends movies regularly. “I just took a golf lesson, so I may take up golf. I’m a bit of an attention deficit disorder person so golf always appeared too slow. But as I get older, I’m starting to take it up.”