Despite record investments in talent platforms and playbooks, executive hiring in healthcare tech, biotech, and AI continues to be plagued by short tenures, misaligned expectations, and missed growth targets. The problem isn’t process. It’s perspective.
We’re still hiring as if people are fixed assets—when behavioral science tells us they’re not.
As Sarah Skinner and Recruiting Future podcast guest Richard Shotton both argue, behavior is not innate, static, or entirely predictable based on resume or personality tests. It’s shaped—and reshaped—by context, incentives, group dynamics, and pressure. In healthcare innovation, where leadership roles evolve rapidly as companies scale, this has massive implications.
At Alvarez Search, powered by our proprietary AI platform Focused Fit, we believe it’s time to stop hiring for what people have done and start hiring for how they will behave—in this role, in this company, at this moment.
Why Past Performance Isn’t Predictive Enough
One of the core takeaways from Shotton’s behavioral science work is that people often don’t act in the way they think they will—or say they will. In his words: “Context trumps consistency.” A leader who thrives at a Series A startup may falter in a post-acquisition operating model. A visionary CMO in biotech might be less effective when faced with payer-driven B2B sales cycles.
Too often, hiring decisions hinge on confidence theater, credential bias, and familiarity. As Shotton points out, “We tend to assume people behave rationally and consistently, but decision-making is heavily context-dependent.” This explains why interviews—an artificial setting where candidates are incentivized to say the “right” thing—are one of the weakest predictors of on-the-job success.
This isn’t a knock on candidates. It’s a challenge to hiring teams: are you designing your process to reveal real behavior in realistic scenarios?
Behavioral Fit Is the Missing Layer in Executive Search
At Alvarez Search, we’re building hiring models rooted in behavioral science because we’ve seen the cost of misalignment—especially in healthcare and medtech, where market pressures, reimbursement models, and regulatory timelines add complexity most industries don’t face.
With Focused Fit, our AI-powered role alignment and hiring platform, we help organizations:
- Define the Role Contextually: We don’t just look at job descriptions. We map the behavioral success profile—what “great” looks like given the strategic objectives, team dynamics, and stressors of the role.
- Generate Behavioral Interview Playbooks: Based on the role DNA, we create targeted interview guides that explore not hypothetical strengths but likely in-role behaviors.
- Use Scenario-Based Assessments: We integrate real-world problem sets that uncover how candidates actually think and respond—under pressure, under uncertainty, and in the kinds of constraints they’ll face on the job.
- Onboard for Behavior Integration: Once hired, leaders don’t just get a 30-60-90 plan. They get a behavior-informed ramp-up strategy that helps them integrate into the culture and the business.
We don’t assess candidates in isolation. We assess fit to behavioral demand. Because what worked for them before might not work here—and that’s what matters.
Why This Matters More Than Ever in Healthcare Tech
In fast-moving, investor-backed healthcare companies, hiring the wrong CGO doesn’t just waste time—it derails product timelines, burns investor trust, and often sets entire teams back quarters.
In these environments, you don’t just need competent leaders. You need those whose natural behaviors align with the stage, scale, and strategy. That means asking smarter questions:
- Can this leader operate in ambiguity and shift gears quickly?
- Are they intrinsically motivated by patient outcomes—or growth milestones?
- Do they galvanize teams through logic, inspiration, or structure?
These are behavioral questions. And answering them well requires more than gut feel or great references.
The Takeaway: From Instinct to Insight—Behavioral Hiring at the Speed of Execution
In healthcare tech and life sciences, speed and precision aren’t optional—they’re existential. You don’t have time for “gut feel” hires that unravel six months in. You need to know—early, clearly, and confidently—who will drive the outcomes that matter.
That’s where Alvarez Search and Focused Fit change the game.
We don’t just find leaders who look good on paper. We give you the behavioral insight to understand how they’ll lead, scale, and adapt—before they ever sign an offer. From day one, we calibrate search around your strategic context, not a static job description. And once the hire is made, we don’t walk away—we support onboarding with behavior-aligned integration that shortens ramp time and increases staying power.
It’s not just about hiring faster. It’s about making every leadership hire a high-confidence, high-fidelity decision—because in this market, the cost of guessing is simply too high.
Let’s stop guessing.
Articles:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/role-behavioral-science-talent-management-sarah-skinner-m-s–0te5c/
https://recruitingfuture.com/2025/04/ep-697-the-behavioural-science-advantage/
