What I'm looking for is intrinsic motivation and commitment to a process. People reach their goals mostly because of what they do, not because of who they are.
Q: To explain to me something that isn't technical, within 5 minutes, assuming I know nothing about it.
I'm mostly looking for ability to make anything easy to understand. The way you describe the world reflects how you understand it, and if you can't explain it well it's because you don't understand it well.
I'm also looking for ability to zoom in to the most important thing. What you need isn't just the ability to work on what's important, but also the ability to not work on what isn't, and what you describe the most reflects what you think of the most.
Q: Do you have good instincts?
What I'm looking for is tidbits of wisdom that help decide under uncertainty. That you don't discard emotions or seemingly innocuous events as useless data. I also want to see someone trusts their own self with whatever knowledge they have before attempting to trust others or gain new knowledge.
But in the end what I'm really looking for with all these questions is how determined someone is.