That's why they need good listening skills to capture the import

That's why they need good listening skills to capture the important information from the expert and work with them. They don't have to know the detail. They just need to know who can do the work , who can be trusted and whom to go when trouble comes. In big company, those are very tricky and a good PM may find a way up easily. However vice versa, a bad PM or a bad project will make PM turn over easily. When there is a cut, PM is the first one got impacted for sure, especially for Portfolio manager. In last recesssion, lots of companies cut the portfolio management department totally.