How to Succeed! (business quote)

According to a New York Times profile article, business "guru" Jim Collins looks for the following qualities in his summer interns:

If they clear other hurdles, he will finally meet them in person. He’s looking for four intangibles: smart, curious, willing to death-march (“there has to be something in their background that indicates that they just will die before they would fail to complete something to perfection”) and some spark of irreverence (“because it’s in that fertile conversation of disagreement where the best ideas come, or at least the best ideas get tested”). [boldface added]
source: For This Guru, No Question Is Too Big

The "death-march" part of this quote stuck with me after reading it on May 23, 2009. I didn't remember the name of the person profiled--only the quote--and that the subject (Jim Collins) used three timers to track how he spends all of his time.