Well, there's also the possibility that he has previously worked for somebody who didn't like things to move fast and chewed his a$$ for that.   Drives me nuts to watch a tillage tool run at 5 mph when the the horsepower and field conditions are fit to do it at 7 mph, but there are people who won't do that because Grandpa never did anything faster than 5 mph on his Super M and by god that's how we are still going to do it.  

There also isn't much efficiency gained to the operation if a cowboy rips the wing off that field cultivator and you spend all afternoon welding instead of planting.  An employee who does quality work and doesn't break things can likely be understood and managed into a niche to fit their personality.   A guy who ramrods and breaks things is pretty unlikely to change his ways.   I've got friends that are foremen and maintenance heads for construction outfits, and it's the cowboys who cause headaches for them too, not the slow and steady.