This pleases me. At my last job I came to realize that I'm "the positive guy." Often my coworkers would be complaining about how an external party was interac

This pleases me. At my last job I came to realize that I'm "the positive guy." Often my coworkers would be complaining about how an external party was interacting with us - usually a particular response to a query or support request, but often just in general terms of how they operate in conjunction with us. I quickly became identified as the guy who can understand their position and describe it in a way that makes sense for everyone else. This usually wound up diffusing everyone's anger and frustration. I hope it also means my coworkers will be more understanding and effective in their communication with external teams, but I have my doubts. :) Maybe what I described above isn't exactly what you're talking about, but I see a relation that I hope is actually there. I know a brilliant computer scientist who has all four traits you describe, and follows your intellectually honest way to disagree by nature. When you meet these people, it's obvious, and often life-impacting. I'm certainly not all the way there yet, but I hope my story above illustrates my growth towards the first class mind you describe.