Portfolio Managers vs. Portfolio Management

The differences are simultaneously nuanced yet pronounced:

Portfolio Managers:

• The ability to process investment ideas from a number of different sources.
• Attention to detail.
• Knowing when to admit that you’re wrong and made a mistake.
• Being flexible in your views on the markets.
• Understanding where your competitive advantage lies.
• Having a quick filter for poor ideas.
• Being passionate about the markets.
• Conviction in your best ideas.
• Knowing how to manage risk (position sizing, trading strategies, when to buy/sell, etc.).
• The ability to sell and explain your process to others.
• Patience.
• The correct temperament.

Portfolio Management:

• Intellectual honesty.
• The ability to understand a number of different investment philosophies.
• The capacity to work with many different personalities and, more importantly, judge a person’s character.
• A broad understanding of how the different asset classes and strategies generally work and interact with one another.
• A thirst for knowledge (there’s a lot of reading involved).
• The ability to effectively communicate and define your overarching philosophy and strategy.
• An understanding of the difference between being stubborn and following a disciplined investment process.
• Knowing when to make portfolio changes and when to do nothing.
• The ability to manage risk.
• Control over your emotions.