A 40-Year-Old CEO’s #1 Hiring Green Flag Isn’t on Your Résumé

Picture two candidates sitting across from a hiring manager. One has the perfect résumé: brand-name companies, polished titles, bulletproof skills. The other has a messier path, maybe fewer flashy logos, but speaks about the role like it matters to them personally. Olipop CEO Ben Goodwin says the second person often wins. After years of building a fast-growing brand, Goodwin argues that one “green-flag” trait predicts success better than pedigree ever could, and it’s something you can’t fake in a PDF. The question is simple and slightly uncomfortable: if passion is the real filter, how many great résumés are secretly empty?

The Green Flag Goodwin Looks For First: Goodwin, 40, says he hires for passion before anything else. Not “I’d love this job because it’s a good opportunity” passion, but the kind that feels like a fire in the belly, the kind that makes someone want to win at the mission, not just the paycheck. He’s blunt about it: between passion and technical skill, passion wins because skills can be learned faster than belief can be manufactured. That idea sparks debate for a reason. Some people hear “passion” and think it’s code for “work for less” or “burn yourself out.” Others hear it and think, finally, a hiring mindset that values real drive over perfect career storytelling.

Why Passion Beats a “Perfect” Background

Goodwin’s logic is practical. Technical acumen is visible on paper, but motivation shows up in the way a person talks about problems, learns fast, and sticks with hard work when the novelty dies. He believes passionate people usually chase competence anyway, because they care about getting it right. Still, it’s worth asking: is passion always measurable fairly? A quiet candidate might feel deeply committed but show it subtly. A smooth talker might sound passionate but just be charismatic. Hiring for passion works best when managers know how to look beyond volume.

Goodwin isn’t alone. LinkedIn’s 2025 “Skills on the Rise” data shows employers are weighting adaptive, human skills more heavily than years-ago checklists. Conflict mitigation, adaptability, innovative thinking, and public speaking are rising because they’re harder to automate, and harder to teach if the person doesn’t actually care.

Goodwin says he spots passion in tiny tells: candidates who light up when explaining how they solved something, who ask sharp questions about the mission, and who talk like they’ve already imagined themselves improving the work. Passion sounds less like hype and more like ownership.  

Goodwin adds a twist: passionate employees don’t just work harder, they guard the mission. They make decisions with long-term care, not short-term ego. He points to his own career, describing times he turned down money because it didn’t match Olipop’s direction, using passion as a compass. Is that idealistic or realistic? Depends who you ask. Some will say companies need more people like that. Others will say passion shouldn’t be the price of entry for stability.

The Red Flag

If passion is the green flag, ego is the red one. Goodwin says he avoids candidates whose personal importance grows larger than the team’s mission. He asks about self-awareness and “derailers”. Basically, whether someone can name their weaknesses without spinning them into humblebrags. But it also raises a concern; is ego always bad, or just unmanaged ego? Some high performers carry big confidence. The line Goodwin draws is whether confidence serves the work, or the work serves the confidence.

This mindset opens doors for people who don’t come from elite pipelines. If passion is the lever, then a nontraditional candidate who learns fast and cares deeply can beat someone with shinier logos. That’s encouraging, and also challenging. Because passion isn’t a credential you can list. You have to show it through stories, curiosity, and proof that you’ve already been moving toward the work. 

Should Hiring Always Work This Way?

Goodwin’s rule sounds refreshing in a market tired of résumé worship. Yet it isn’t foolproof. Passion can be unevenly expressed across cultures or personalities. It can also burn hot and fast. Meanwhile, technical skill without passion can still produce solid work in certain roles. So maybe the sharper takeaway is balance: passion as the spark, competence as the engine. 

Goodwin’s hiring green flag isn’t a credential, a title, or a perfect career arc. It’s the kind of passion that makes someone want to grow into the role, protect the mission, and keep learning after the first week glow fades. In 2025, with employers elevating human, unautomatable traits, that focus is only getting stronger. But the real tension remains deliciously comment-worthy: is passion a fair standard, or a slippery one? If you were hiring tomorrow, would you choose the candidate with the flawless résumé, or the one who clearly wants it more?