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Bandit Lites 40 at 40: Michael T. Strickland
Job Title: Chairman of the Board
Michael T. Strickland, chairman of Bandit Lites Inc., is a well-known face to many in the lighting industry. Starting Bandit Lites at age 12 in his hometown of Kingsport, TN, Strickland now has offices in Knoxville, Nashville, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Celebrating 40 years in 2008, Michael Strickland has had the privilege of working with clients such as The Beach Boys, Alice Cooper, Jimmy Buffett, Martina McBride, The Moody Blues, Garth Brooks, Smashing Pumpkins, and far too many more outstanding artists to list on one page. Below are a few questions we asked the man behind the company to get to know him a little better.
Q: You started working at age 12. What inspired you to get involved in this industry at such a young age?
A: I went with my sister to see a rock show and fell in love with live music. I had no talent at all but really wanted to be in the business. I had been in Community Theater since age five and knew that lighting existed. I thought I could introduce lighting to these rock shows (as they had none in 1968) and that would be my ticket in! I was correct!
Q: Bandit has continued to grow and succeed over the last 40 years, a huge fete in entertainment lighting. What is the secret?
A: First and foremost, great people! Without the phenomenal staff, Bandit Lites would not exist. Beyond that, those people have to work with opportunity, luck and dedication. We have been the luckiest people in the business, had many tremendous opportunities and are the most dedicated people you will ever find. We work tirelessly to make Quality Job number one and it pays off in spades. As our logo says, 40 Years of Excellence!
Q: Where do you see the company headed in the next 10 years?
A: More of the same, we will continue to strive to be the best in the industry and never let up. Our clients' vision is our mission. As the equipment changes and we go away from what is now considered state-of-the-art towards LEDs, plasma lamps, content manipulation and other yet to be invented items, the game changes completely. This is a paradigm shift rather than an evolution. Eight years from today, everything we all own will most likely be obsolete. It is an exciting time and we at Bandit welcome the challenge.
Q: Who has inspired and influenced your work?
A: I have been inspired by every artist I have ever seen in one way or another. I have
learned from every competitor, every tech, every person I have come into contact with in the last 40 years. I am a student of business, life and lighting. I get up every morning eager to learn something new, and I always succeed at that. I learn from my parents, my wife, my children and my co-workers. Most of all, I learn from my mistakes! The law of entropy is very true. Everything is in motion - you are either going forward or backward, but nothing sits still!
Q: What advice do you have for someone getting into this business?
A: Humility, humility and humility. This business if full of talented people with little or no humility and they are not the most fun to work with. It is a pleasure when I get to work with some of the great world-class people in the business that are humble and treat you like a human being. If a young person can master that then they will go as far as they desire. They must also be aware that, as I stated before, it takes the rare combination of opportunity, luck and dedication to succeed. It requires a mountain of dedication to achieve success at the highest of levels. Success is not for the faint at heart, but rather for the warriors willing to pay the price. Aim high, work relentlessly and be humble. If you do that my friend, you will soar with eagles.
Q: Do you have any final thoughts?
A: I would like to say thank you to the hundreds of dedicated people that have made up this family we call Bandit Lites. Without such a great team, none of us would have gone as far as we have. I wish to thank friends, family, clients and staff for making this all possible. All of us at Bandit promise to keep the bar high and never let the industry or our clients down. It has been a long strange trip, but we have just begun!
22nd December 2008
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