Be the Mast
About this episode
Matt Stone discusses the evolving nature of employment and the importance of building personal relationships over corporate loyalty.
The workforce is coming loose from its moorings. A Fortune commentary from the American Staffing Association’s chief economist reports that temporary help was among the fastest-growing job categories in 2026, up every month, with roughly one in ten new jobs this year being temporary — and the deeper point is that as employment becomes less permanent, the old assumptions linking company, career, and identity come apart with it. Matt reads that and sees confirmation of something he’s been feeling in the marketplace, right down to a tension in his own positioning: is he B2B or B2C? His answer is that the question is dissolving, because the people move. The professional you win as a client today, embedded in Company A, is increasingly likely to be fractional, contract, or gone tomorrow — which means even a B2B relationship is really a relationship with a person who’s about to change boats. So the strategic conclusion lands where the whole run has been pointing: build loyalty with people, not logos. When a client is a company, rising temporariness inside it shortens how long that company stays your client (unless you’re an Oracle or Microsoft with tentacles so deep that switching is…
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