[Stage] Patrick Morin - Your Culture is Your Competitive Advantage

Company culture strategy isn’t just important—it is your competitive advantage. In this powerful conversation from Take the Stage, Brad Bialy sits down with Patrick Morin, Partner at Transact Capital, to explore why company culture is more than a part of the business—it is the business. Especially in the highly commoditized staffing industry, culture is the invisible hand that shapes performance, retention, and client trust.

Drawing on insights from Bill Taylor (Fast Company) and firsthand experience in M&A and organizational leadership, Patrick breaks down:

• Why culture defines your brand more than your strategy doc ever will

• How top-performing firms build cultures of accountability, learning, and responsibility

• The role of leadership in embedding values into operations, not just words

• How cultural fit—even for a 12-week assignment—can drastically improve outcomes

• Why the most disruptive companies hold everyone, even executives, accountable

• The golden framework for owning, competing, and reaching for business in uncertain times

If you’ve ever felt like your staffing firm lacks a true differentiator—this is the conversation you can’t afford to miss.

 

Chapters and Key Moments:

• 00:01 – Culture is the strategy: unpacking Bill Taylor’s insight

• 02:15 – Innovation as differentiation in a commoditized staffing world

• 03:47 – Top-down and grassroots culture development

• 05:12 – Hiring for cultural fit vs. skills

• 06:41 – Embedding temps into client culture

• 08:00 – Necessary evil to trusted advisor

• 11:28 – Culture of accountability, responsibility & learning

• 14:57 – A story of accountability—from the maintenance guy up

• 16:30 – Humility and “I’m sorry” as leadership superpowers

• 19:28 – Empathy and handwritten notes: the human advantage

• 24:32 – Own, compete, and reach: a framework for market strategy

• 28:31 – How to pivot in uncertain markets

• 30:58 – Optimism for the future of staffing

• 32:32 – About Transact Capital Partners

• 36:12 – Advice for new staffing professionals

 

About the Speakers

Brad Bialy is host of Take the Stage and InSights, two of the leading podcast for the staffing industry. He has a deep passion for helping staffing and recruiting firms achieve their business objectives through strategic digital marketing. For over a decade, Brad has developed a proven track record of motivating and educating staffing industry professionals at over 100 industry-specific conferences and webinars. As a visionary leader, Brad has helped guide the comprehensive marketing strategy of more than 300 staffing and recruiting firms. His keen eye for strategy and delivery has resulted in multiple industry award-winning social media campaigns, making him a sought-after expert and speaker in the industry.

 

Patrick Morin is a partner with Transact Capital Securities, a Richmond, Virginia- based investment banking firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions of privately-owned companies with enterprise values up to $250MM. Transact specializes in the staffing industry, serving clients in technology, light industrial, marine/stevedoring, skilled labor, hospitality, logistics, financial & administrative, legal, and medical staffing specialties.

He was also one of the founding partners of BrightHammer, LLC., a global consultancy engaged by private equity groups, boards of directors, and CEOs to improve the performance of their invested companies. BrightHammer works with select start-ups, growth companies, and turnarounds to stabili