1) I look at it as a hierarchy that's equal parts everything. In other words, I want someone who's technically adept, artistically visionary, and organizationally hard-assed. It seems to me that if any one of those overtakes the other, you end up with a sort of myopic view of the process.
2) The artist in me wants to come in cold because the producer in me knows that the engineer in me takes over when he's got too much information. I'd rather let some of that artist through and see what happy accidents happen...to see what grabs me first. Sometimes that gets me into trouble, but more often than not, it prevents my mixes from journeying to the land of suckitude.
3) Alone. The client, unless they are engineers themselves, don't really understand the process, or the value of the process. I'm learning more and more that when I go through a process on my mixes (i.e., start faders up, balances and panning, eq, GET THE VOCAL SOUND, dynamics, other effects, 2 buss, final blending and automation) I end up with a MUCH better product than when I work on each instrument in turn.
4) Not really. I'd personally be pissed if I sent something to mix and heard something I didn't ask for. Cutting arrangements you could talk me into, but if there's a 808 loop in the middle of my death metal track, I'm not going to be a happy camper.
5) I think as a mixer, I tend to do "realistically big" "extra-moderately aggressive" mixes. Mayhaps a little tiny bit vanilla, but solid, listenable, and true to feel.
6) I would describe myself as an "identity enhancer," or at least that's my goal. Technical perfection isn't much fun. I'm leaning more towards finding the right attitude, whatever that is.