"In my experience, the best employees are positive, low maintenance and unselfish." The above is true if you want a mediocre employee who does what is required

"In my experience, the best employees are positive, low maintenance and unselfish." The above is true if you want a mediocre employee who does what is required and no more without rocking the boat, great if you work in McDonalds or other such industry. If you hire a smart employee based on being a smart employee you hire them to tell you what you should be doing not to tell them how to do the thing you hired them for. “when should I expect to get promoted if I exceed your expectations?... can indicate that a candidate values personal objectives above all else” Sounds like someone is driven, sure they are self driven but to drive there own success they have to drive the companies success. It does sound like poor management, not knowing how to handle a smart employee who raises concern, as a smart employee should.