Winning PM disposition, skills, and habits
What are the winning PM disposition, skills, and habits that you have seen based on your experience with your PM? Have you seen it being different between MM and SM PMs?
I will start with what I have seen (single manager PM):
- Granular and detail oriented approach to names
- Succinct and terse but clear communication
- Bottom-up orientation to problem solving - starting with the details and building up the picture
- Hardworking to a fault
- Limited attention span with people who don't provide valuable input to positions
- Strong macro handle on topics that could move the book
- Lacks people management skills and doesn't care too much about how analysts/team feels about things
I am always left wondering if you have to be detail oriented and granular to win as a PM or is it possible to have an edge and winning formula by being top-down and big picture oriented. Another point that I have been thinking about more is if you can be a people person and still be successful - meaning can your analyst like you as a manager and an investor?
Curious to see what you guys are seeing out there
Bump
I can subscribe to many points you listed. Others:
What are your thoughts on granular detailed orientated vs top down approach to “life”?
For me it's really strategy dependent.
You have PMs religiously following their models and holding extremely concentrated positions in names they probably know better than mgmt itself.
Others, like mine, are much more macro oriented. He doesn't place bets on the best business models that can bear fruit over the next 5 years. He would rather find a theme/macro trend he believes in and therefore find a sound way to play through equity/debt/whatever. He doesn't crunch numbers (that's my job) but he doesn't care about which WACC you want to use to discount FY30 estimates. That's just irrelevant for him and for the strategy.
It's paramount you don't try to plug a specific approach in the wrong strategy. That just doesn't work.
Humility
Humility
Humility
I've seen a range of personalities. Going to be blunt, character and such doesn't really mean shit, at my MM I've seen people from opposite ends of the spectrum win and lose. These soft skills and traits will help a prospective PM get the opportunity, but once they are in the driver's seat none of it matters, only PnL and risk.
out of curiosity, approximate fund size?
scrappy - to get edge you must be relentless and clever, settling for the traditional research (models, sell side, expert/company calls) will not lead to outperformance.
honest - both with self and others. you cannot BS your way to being a successful PM (at least not in long run). you can BS your way to success in many other areas.
moving targets - will get super excited about an idea and delegate but lose interest soon after and tell you to toss the work.
oddball - most are are a bit weird and quirky, but that's the way you have to be to think independently from the crowd.
ingests enough caffeine and/or dip to kill a horse
on the character stuff, there's a low bar minimum of social skills you need in order to get people to want to invest with you. beyond that you can be the most charismatic in the world but you'll lose investors if you can't perform. on the flip side, if you have great performance but can't socialize it will be tough to get people to trust you with their $. particularly, in a rough patch, investors want to be assured that you still know what you're doing, so the right balance of humility in what you may have gotten wrong and confidence that you still know what you're doing is crucial. that balance plus just enough charisma will entice investors to give you a chance to improve performance.
All these sound like ADHD traits
sounds like i should be a HF PM
The most important trait to have as a PM is the skill and disposition to make money, and making a habit out of it. Hope that helps.
bump
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