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I'm not sure if the guy is American or not, but Americans are more ideological than practical. Being "passionate" about something is more valued than being good. Contrast this to other countries like Germany and Switzerland where a cool headed and calculating competence is seen as more of an ideal attitude towards work.

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American, yes. Do I compromise quality at the cost of passion? Most certainty not. But there is something to be said for the value of hiring with a criteria of passion for the idea and space.

I made no implication it was either or. You can certainly have a passionate, cool headed and calculated player on your team.

>passionate, cool headed These terms are pretty much exclusive, you may want to check a dictionary for "passionate". Unless it's used in some secondary sense different from the usual definition.

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