Attributes of an Effective Project Manager

Recently I did an interview talking about the most important attributes of an effective project manager and those attributes which undermine a person's ability to manage projects well.  It was fun putting together the list and I thought I would share my raw bullets with you, as follows:

Attributes of an effective project manager:
Skill in negotiating win-win solutions between stakeholders and the project team
Ability to understand the needs of the stakeholder organization and take those into account when making day to day project decisions Ability to objectively present decision alternatives and consequences and drive to a rational decision based on the alternatives Staying calm particularly during turbulent times
Avoiding showing biases toward any team member or stakeholder organization
Skill in clearly articulating a project workplan, its dependencies, and the resulting deliverables Desire to hold the team accountable for deliverables Amazon.com Widgets Ability to clearly articulate and communicate the mission of the project and continually remind the project team of the business purpose behind the project
Ability to earn the respect of the team regardless of reporting relationships
Willingness to be held accountable for results and not deflect blame when things don’t go well
Ability to effectively leverage a project sponsor to get him/her to help the project manager through difficult issues
Skill in managing virtual teams

Things which undermine a PM’s ability to manage effectively:
Inability to stay calm when problems arise
Blame-shifting when things go wrong
Poor articulation of work assignments and deliverables
Biases towards team members or stakeholder organizations
Political or hidden agendas which influence project decisions
Inability to compromise or negotiate win-win solutions