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

13 Comments
 
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I can subscribe to many points you listed. Others:

  1. Doesn't make it personal - when you trade substantially (as in my fund), he won't make you liable forever for a mistake. Makes sure you understood you were wrong and moves on
  1. Little communication - doesn't spend many words to explain positions and expects the same from his analysts. Attention span of a fly
  1. Curious as hell - reading from the university magazine (he graduated 30yrs ago) to the local newspaper to books, news, probably even the label of canned food
  1. Zero feeling shown - we can be down or up and he will behave almost the same in any situation. Have never seen him lose his temper in 2.5 yrs I'm with him
  1. Closely following flows - if some stock has abnormal volumes (check on MOST on BBG), he wants to know why and potentially act on that. Know who is selling and why

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