Your Culture is Your Competitive Advantage - Patrick Morin

Is your staffing firm overlooking its most powerful strategic asset?

In this must-watch episode of Take the Stage, presented by Haley Marketing, Patrick Morin joins Brad Bialy to unpack why company culture strategy isn’t just an internal talking point—it’s the core of your brand, execution, and market reputation.

In a market where staffing firms often struggle to differentiate, Morin argues that culture is the ultimate competitive advantage.

From candidate retention to client trust, the culture your team lives and breathes determines how you scale, sell, and succeed.

Expect to Learn:
1. Why Culture Is the Strategy
2. How to Differentiate in a Crowded Market
3. How to Build Culture from the Top Down and Bottom Up
4. Why Cultural Fit Matters More Than Just Skills
5. How to Shift from Necessary Evil to Trusted Advisor
6. The Three Traits of Disruptive Companies
7. The Own–Compete–Reach Framework

Whether you're a founder, branch manager, or recruiter, this episode offers powerful takeaways on how to build a culture-first organization that earns trust, scales smart, and survives disruption.

Chapters & Timestamps
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 stabilize operations and ramp up revenue and employee performance.

Prior to his current engagement, he was seven years as Senior Vice President with Cornerstone Realty Income Trust, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-traded company that owned and operated apartments throughout the US.

Before joining Cornerstone, Mr. Morin was with Dale Carnegie Training for five years and was an instructor for almost two decades. He was ranked among the top instructors globally and was a member of the elite Global Delivery Team.

While a member of the National Speakers Association, he personally conducted thousands of keynotes and training meetings for businesses, associations, government agencies and community groups. Notable groups he's addressed include: the National Independent Staffing Association, McDonalds, National Association of Women In Construction, NASA, the National Ground Intelligence Center, the DEA, National Apartment Association, and the staffing associations of NY, Wisconsin, New Jersey.

He serves on the boards of several local charities including the YMCA and the Franks Foundation.

Patrick makes his home in Richmond, Virginia and in chairlifts of ski resorts around the country.

[jenniferjordan]

I especially appreciate his thoughts about the importance of humility and being able to apologize. It reminds me of the quote "If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room" which is often attributed to Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric. You can only grow when you surround yourself with the best and brightest. And it's ok to be wrong. We're all human. We make mistakes. Own it, learn from it, and move forward.

[HaleyMarketingGroup]

Skip to the section that matters most to you:
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