Troy Lee on leadership, legacy and long-term success

Troy Lee has been in the lighting business since he was 12, when he was sweeping floors and doing odd jobs in his family’s Atlanta-based business, Progressive Lighting. As a third-generation leader, he oversees 11 Progressive Lighting retail showrooms across three states and heads two manufacturing companies, Lee Lighting and Savoy House. Lee also currently serves as chairman of the Dallas Market Center Lightovation board, chairman of the ALA finance committee and is  a member of the association’s board of governors. He was inducted into the American Lighting Association‘s Hall of Fame in September.

I understand that growing up in your family’s business, you worked in every department. What job did you enjoy the most?

I started out when I was young enough to ride my bicycle to the company showroom. I started sweeping floors, doing whatever jobs needed to be done. I realized then that I loved this industry — the creativity, the excitement of new homeowners selecting their lighting packages. I knew this was where I wanted to work.

I worked as a truck driver, in sales, as a store manager, as a warehouse manager, up to being the chief executive officer. It’s been very rewarding.

When I was 16, we were putting together our first catalog, and my grandfather asked me to be the photographer. I spent two days taking pictures, because you had to hang the fixture, and then you had to wait for it to be completely still before you could photograph it. After two days, I realized my grandfather had forgotten to load the film. But I loved the artistry of it, and that is when I fell in love with the wholesale side of the business.

Have you ever worked outside the company?

No, I’ve only worked for the company. It’s all I have ever wanted to do. My mother wanted me to be a preacher. She wanted me to do anything but go into the lighting business. But I realized that lighting was where my heart was. I wanted to work with my father and grandfather.

For my senior high school project, we had to design something. My father flew me to New York City — back then, that was a big deal — and I went to Igmor crystal. I put together my own crystal chandelier. I really got an appreciation for what it took to engineer and design a light fixture.

Do you design today?

I don’t do much designing today because of my other responsibilities. But when we first started out wholesaling, I designed quite a bit of our product. When I was in my formative years, I went with my father to Europe to work with the great lighting artisans of our time in Spain, Italy and France, and learned a lot of lighting design from them. In college, I took a lot of drafting classes. That helped me to work with these grand masters on period and classical lighting.

How does your upbringing influence how you work today?

I grew up in the South where we are very family oriented. I am in the third generation. The average employment of most associates is around 12 to14 years. For many people, it’s their only job since high school or college. I think it’s because we hold a strong tradition of treating associates like family. We try to extend that feeling to our customer base. Their concerns are our concerns. We feel we are a part and partner in our customer’s business. Their success is our success.

We are still family owned. We intend to stay that way. We see no retirement in our future. My grandfather died at his desk, and I think my father has the same ambition. My wife doesn’t want me home, so I probably have the same future.

You operate both a retail chain and a manufacturing business. What kind of synergies exist between them?

It’s a unique hybrid model. My father and grandfather were home builders. They had problems getting lighting, and when they did get it there were a lot of back orders. So, they decided to start their own lighting showroom. We started in Atlanta and grew. We expanded into Charlotte, N.C. and then Dallas. Because we have always imported all of our own lighting, we began to wholesale that lighting across the country and came up with Savoy House.

The retail showrooms are a great laboratory. We experience what the end user wants to see as far as lighting product, and what needs they have. We also experience first-hand the issues that can arise in lighting. From there, we incorporate that into our wholesale line: their aesthetic preferences and installation challenges. We use that to develop our own fixtures in order to help our lighting showroom partners more easily service their customers.

You sell your competitors’ brands in your stores.

We sure do. We support most of the lighting industry in our stores. We feel there is room for everyone in this industry. We have had relationships with other manufacturers for decades.

I understand you are just back from Vietnam.

We were in Vietnam and the Philippines. We go there biannually to review samples of products that we show in January and June. We operate an office in Asia and have a Pacific Asian director of operations. We have our own sourcing people. We’ve had an office in Asia for the past 20 years.

Has this year of tariffs and supply chain issues been the hardest challenge you’ve encountered, or one of the many ups and downs of doing business?

I think in the past 10 years we’ve seen more changes in lighting in distribution and supply chain. Lighting has gone from being strictly sourced from China to being sourced all over Asia. We operate in China, Vietnam, Bangkok, the Philippines and Cambodia. Five years ago, we were only in China. It is a requirement now that you diversify your supply chain. Even in a small business, like lighting, you have to diversify. We are seeing countries come up with their own unique assets and abilities and we are trying to match our product to those abilities. I think that is true for the entire industry. That makes operations more complex than it has been.

When you get together with other lighting executives in the industry, what is the main topic of discussion?

One of the real advantages of this industry is that it is a real tight-knit group. We’re not above sharing, trying to help each other. What we talk about is the diversification of the supply chain, how to retain quality … the challenges we see in the marketplace with changes in technology and the changing requirements and nature of our customer base.

I understand you were involved in the establishment of a lighting concierge at Dallas Market Center. Tell me about that.

The Dallas Market Center [wanted to] create a lighting concierge where designers and end users coming to market could be made more aware of what lighting products were on the market, and to better educate them on changing lighting technology. I felt like this was an important project because a consumer will appreciate and spend more money as they become more educated. The concierge makes them aware of the many options available to them. I’ve been active in that, and I think it’s been a very successful program.

You were inducted into the Lighting Hall of Fame in September. When you look back, what accomplishment are you proudest of?

That was a great honor and a big surprise. I’m very grateful to the nominating committee for recognizing me. In my lifetime, I’ve seen the icons of our industry, the people I looked up to, receive the award … it makes me very honored, but it also makes me realize I am aging. I am a veteran.

I am most proud of being a son, a brother, a father and a husband. In my business career, I am most gratified to see people within our company grow, prosper and have the ability to make decisions and have a career in the industry because of our company.

What is your leadership style?

Collaborative. I like to recognize achievement. I like to see people take accountability and I like to celebrate and congratulate their achievement within the company.

Can you tell me something people would be surprised to learn about you?

People might be surprised that I am a liberal Democrat.

Just for fun:

Favorite place to eat in Atlanta: The OK Café, off West Paces Ferry on Northside Drive. It’s simple southern cooking.

What do you like best about summer? I love being outdoors.

Favorite gelato flavor offered in the Savoy House showroom in Dallas? Salted caramel.