Leadership is a key transversal skill for the employability of university graduates. Even so, clear evidence is still lacking on how basic behavioral traits translate into observable leadership. In practice, this transformation usually occurs through intermediate skills, such as initiative, the ability to influence, and self-control. To analyze the relationship between three behavioral traits of the natural profile Extroversion/Influence, Risk/Dominance and Self-Control— and leadership competence, examining the mediating role of Initiative, Impact and Influence and Self-Control (competence). A sample of 4,294 Spanish university students was studied, evaluated using PDA Assessment (Personal Development) . Assessment) (2023–2024). A PLS-SEM model (SmartPLS 4) was estimated to simultaneously assess (a) the strength of the relationships between traits, competencies, and leadership, and (b) whether traits influence leadership indirectly by “passing through” intermediate competencies. Robustness was tested using bootstrapping (5,000 resamples), and collinearity (VIF), explained variance (R²), and out-of-sample predictive capacity were checked using PLSpredict. The traits were significantly associated with the “bridging” competencies: Risk/Dominance → Initiative (β = 0.693), Extraversion/Influence → Impact and Influence (β = 0.582), and Self-Control → Self-Control (competence) (β = 0.271) (p < .001). In practical terms, this indicates that the tendency to take on challenges translates into greater proactivity; sociability and expressiveness translate into a greater capacity for influence; and self-regulation is expressed as more consistent behaviors. In turn, the competencies predicted leadership, with Impact and Influence standing out as the most decisive factor (β = 0.918), followed by Initiative (β = 0.295) and Self-Control (competence) (β = 0.144) (p < .001). Specific mediations were confirmed, especially Extraversion/Influence → Impact and Influence → Leadership (β_ind = 0.535) and Risk/Dominance → Initiative → Leadership (β_ind = 0.204). The model explained a very high proportion of leadership (R² = 0.968) with controlled collinearity (VIF = 1.586–2.749) and out-of-sample predictive relevance (Q²_predict > 0). The results show that leadership in university students is primarily developed when behavioral traits are transformed into trainable competencies, especially impact, influence, and initiative. Applied to employability, programs should prioritize these two levers to strengthen the leadership of future graduates.