Traits vs. Competencies in Commercial Leadership

Traits vs. Competencies in Commercial Leadership

Most companies assess commercial talent by looking at what they’ve done.

• Companies they’ve worked for
• Markets they’ve sold into
• Results they’ve delivered
• Strategies they’ve executed

That’s valuable. But it only tells you part of the story.

To get the full picture, you also need to understand how they lead — and why they succeed.

Phenotype vs. Genotype: A Life Sciences Analogy

We use a framework that makes sense for our clients in Tools, Diagnostics, Devices, Therapeutics, and Infusion.

Phenotype = what you can see
Genotype = the underlying DNA

In executive search:

Phenotype is what’s on paper:
• Resume
• Title
• Past employers
• Product experience

Genotype is how they operate:
• Traits
• Instincts
• Behaviors
• Leadership drivers

You need both.
But most hiring processes stop at phenotype — and miss the DNA that actually drives performance.

That’s why product knowledge alone isn’t enough to evaluate leadership fit.

What Traits Reveal That Competencies Don’t

A candidate’s competencies might tell you:

• They’ve built a field team
• They’ve launched a new product
• They know the diagnostics market
• They’ve presented to the Board

But their traits tell you:

• How they lead under pressure
• Whether they thrive in ambiguity
• What motivates them beyond compensation
• How they respond to underperformance or rejection
• Whether they’ll thrive in your culture — or just tolerate it

The right competencies help someone do the job.
The right traits help them do it in your environment, with your team, under your conditions.

That’s why we recommend defining both traits and competencies in your Success Profile before the search starts.

What We’ve Learned

At Alder Brooks, we evaluate both.
We look at the Phenotype — the market experience, stage fit, and go-to-market background.
Then we go deeper into the Genotype — traits, drivers, decision-making style, and cultural alignment.

That’s how you avoid great-on-paper mishires — and hire the leader who doesn’t just perform, but makes your entire team better.

Because in executive search, it’s not just about what they’ve done.
It’s about who they are when it matters most.

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