Growth via Talent Arbitrage: My H.C.3 Framework
Why modern leaders should hire for trait over tenure
In the high-stakes world of growth-stage companies, one of the most overlooked areas of focus is talent. While others focus on having the right software, I focus on having the right talent.
The instinct is often to hire the “proven” commodity—the candidate with the perfect pedigree and a resume that checks every box. I’ve rarely hired that way. There is a distinct competitive advantage in a different approach: talent arbitrage.
This philosophy suggests that the most explosive growth doesn’t come from hiring the most expensive talent, but from identifying “hidden” talent—those with the raw traits for success who haven’t yet been given the right stage. By focusing on looking around corners to see where the market (and the person) is going, leaders can build teams that are more loyal, more coachable, and more innovative than those built on credentials alone.
In my career building teams, I’ve often built them from scratch, staffed by people who weren’t ready, on paper, for the roles I put them in. While my batting ratio isn’t 1.000 (that’s a perfect batting average in baseball), more times than not this practice has paid real dividends to the teams I’ve built and the companies I’ve built them for.
Investing in the “Internal Pivot”
One of the most overlooked pools of talent is often sitting right in front of us.
My first real attempt at this is when I completely reorganized the Lending department at the CU where I was Chief Lending Officer. I was hired with the explicit goal of launching its business lending department. I rebuilt the organization using existing staff, but with a focus on getting everyone in the right role. For the commercial lending department, instead of hiring talent, I took internal talent, that already understood lending, and taught them how commercial loans worked. Today, that person has lead the department to numerous awards as a top SBA lender.
The approach was counter to what most do. I choose internal over external.
We identified individuals who already mastered the institutional culture and the fundamentals of lending, even if they hadn’t yet touched a commercial file. By betting on their existing knowledge base and, more importantly, their capacity to learn, we built a department that didn’t just function—it thrived. Today, that department is an award-winning SBA leader, proving that technical skills can be taught, but institutional grit is often homegrown.
The Power of the “Coachable Candidate”
My next foray was when the credit union CEO came and asked me to run the Marketing department. She had just let the VP of Marketing go. I have an undergraduate in Marketing, so while pairing a Lending department with a Marketing department may not have made sense at first, having the two within my organization worked well.
To replace the VP I picked a candidate who didn’t have extensive experience, but she had a thirst for learning and she was highly coachable. By focusing on her cognitive agility rather than her years in a specific chair, we were able to mold a leadership style that aligned perfectly with the organization’s goals. She is now a Chief Marketing Officer—a testament to the fact that potential, when met with the right mentorship, outpaces experience every time.
Identifying the “Overlooked Veteran”
In larger organizations, talent can often become siloed or ignored because they don’t fit a traditional mold. During the largest product build in a 50-year-old company’s history, we needed to modernize our Product Management and Marketing functions.
The right person for the job wasn’t a fresh recruit from a competitor; it was an internal veteran who had been overlooked for years. She was already doing the work—innovating in the shadows of a 7,000-person organization—but lacked the title. By formalizing her role and giving her a mandate, we catalyzed one of the fastest-growing divisions in the company.
The Framework for Growth: Traits Over Resume
Whether building a Product Operations team with someone who has never worked in “Product” or launching a new fintech vertical, the “playbook” remains the same. To scale a business effectively, you must distinguish between teachable skills and immutable traits.
Teachable Skills: Commercial loan structures, Product Operations frameworks, Marketing analytics.
Immutable Traits: Hustle, creativity, curiosity, and coachability.
When you hire for the latter, you aren’t just filling a role; you are future-proofing your organization. Looking around the corner isn’t just about predicting market trends—it’s about seeing the future leader hiding in a current “under-qualified” applicant.
While this model works well for any size business, I’ve mostly leveraged it inside large enterprises, it can be particularly helpful for startups. Experienced operators can be expensive and while they may have excelled in prior roles, there is no guarantee that experience will translate over. When you prioritize immutable traits over teachable skills you are often hiring lesser experienced, sometimes younger, talent that isn’t demanding high compensation.
Just yesterday my friend Tom was telling me about a CTO candidate for his new venture that wanted a massive amount of equity in the company. So much equity that it would have hindered Tom’s ability to leverage equity with other key hires. Would that CTO be worth it? Maybe. Could Tom find a candidate with a less polished resume for less to help him build out his MVP, that would perform just as well? Probably, because such a candidate is likely to be much hungrier for career opportunities.
The H.C.3. Framework: Screening for Talent Arbitrage
To move beyond the resume and identify “hidden” high-performers, screen every candidate—internal or external—against these four immutable pillars. Use these to interview for the person, not the paper.
Pillar - Hustle
What to Look For: A history of doing more with less or taking initiative without a formal mandate.
Discovery Question: “Tell me about a time you solved a problem that wasn’t in your job description.”
Pillar - Creativity
What to Look For: The ability to connect disparate dots or solve technical problems through non-linear thinking
Discovery Question: “Describe a situation where the standard process failed. How did you pivot?”
Pillar - Curiosity
What to Look For: A self-direct learning habit, ex. they are constantly playing with AI. They don’t wait for a training manual; they build one.
Discovery Question: “What is something complex you’ve taught yourself in the last six months?”
Pillar - Coachability
What to Look For: The speed at which they implement feedback without defensiveness.
Discovery Question: “Give them a small, real-time critique during the interview and see if they apply it 10 minutes later.”
If you are struggling to find the right talent, at the right price, consider that you might be looking in the wrong places.
Experiment with bringing on lesser experienced talent that measures up to the H.C.3 Framework.
If it feels too risky to experiment with key roles, try it out in junior roles, like inside an internship or apprenticeship program. The early growth of our Product Go-to-Market team was built on the back of apprentices, all just out of college, who have all turned into highly skilled, talented team members.
Give them a chance. Good luck.