Bruce Morton spent 15 years running strategy at Allegis Group and is now consulting for the staffing industry that he’s spent his entire career dedicated to serving.
It’s a complicated time for staffing agencies, and one of the things that Tommy and I very much enjoyed about our conversation with Bruce is that he simply doesn’t hold back, in the best way possible. He’s not shy to call out firms that need to evolve their thinking and focus, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of history and trends that have led the industry to where it is today. And yet he shares this wisdom with an undercurrent of kindness and goodwill that is palpable.
In our conversation with Bruce, we discuss:
- The new currency of employability – data (including that kinds that RefAssured provides) – and how to use it to your advantage
- Why staffing, especially IT staffing, finds itself in a quandary. It has to do with willing decisions to move down-market when given the chance to disrupt service businesses
- How Bruce would build a staffing agency from the ground up if he had to do so today, and what it would focus on
- The impact of digitization and how to combine agentic AI and human ingenuity to create effective cross-functional teams
- How people whose roles are disrupted by technology – especially entry-level – can reframe their skills and pivot
- Why return-to-office (RTO) isn’t as simple a situation as it seems
- What defines staffing agencies best positioned to ride a wave of uncertainty (hint – the smaller the firm, the easier it is)
We’re grateful to Bruce for taking the time to chat with us for Episode 12 of Ref Around the Edges and we know you’ll enjoy this one a great deal. As you disembark from your proverbial strategy and positioning train ride be sure to mind the (value) gap with a little help from Bruce.
Apple Podcasts listener? You can find the episode (and subscribe to Ref Around the Edges) here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-12-bruce-morton-mind-the-value-gap/id1796224051?i=1000717201216
Otherwise, please listen to the podcast here on SoundCloud: