Pride and passion can exist without ego. I view this as appreciating things for what they are, not who they belong to.
For practical purposes, if you don't acknowledge how good and bad behaviors can both spring from the same base emotions/thought processes then it's harder to grow out of the bad behaviors. You need to be able to reframe how the ego interacts with your work, not just try to kill it off.
It's a tricky business, being a human being, with its very many pitfalls.