Attitude versus Knowledge

In one of my discussion with a project lead, we were debating which is the most important attribute of a team member. The project lead, who was very much bogged down with the knowledge level of the team members was rooting to the fact that knowledge is most important factor when choosing a team member. I begged to differ. My point was that knowledge can be acquired by a person with the right attitude, but a person with requisite knowledge but lacking in attitude can be a nightmare for any project. If a person has the attitude to learn, to work hard and takes his job seriously, he can compensate for the lack of knowledge in the short run, and on account of his being a learner, will be able to catch up the knowledge in the medium run. Of course, the project duration is also a very important factor in this. For shorter duration projects, which are less than 3 months, the team member has to be knowledgeable so that he can hit the ground running. There is no room for anyone to learn in short duration projects. But for longer duration projects, I would rather choose people with the right attitude and train and build their knowledge. This way, the team member also does some value add to his own skillset and the project also benefits.