I've met some like that in certain environments, but I wonder if it isn't a part of an unholy match between their priorities and the employer priorities. That

I've met some like that in certain environments, but I wonder if it isn't a part of an unholy match between their priorities and the employer priorities. That is, a place I saw this commonly was a government defense contractor. One of the guys there joined because he figured, eh, government, job security. Huge projects, very little accountability. The whole system is set up for failure; the profitable projects are still failures, and any project that overdelivers cost the company money, because that benefit is legally prevented from being used in their favor when bidding on future contracts. It's in the company's interest to keep a stable of employees who produce at a -predictable- pace, who are complacent and don't excel (so raises can be predictable and there won't be employee initiated turnover). And that was what this person was looking for. What happens if this person suddenly has to start being competitive? What happens if people start relying on him for more? I don't know. You don't know. These people themselves probably don't know. I can't use those examples to disqualify the OP, even though I too am very familiar with them.