Playing the Project Manager is written for practising managers, to help them understand their performances as managers, and how they may advance their capabilities and their careers. Discover how managers acquire their authority, their power to deal with challenging situations, to speak out, and to lead the way forward. Learn what it takes to appear as a credible and coherent player on the project stage, and how to perform the archetypes - six standard modes for playing the project manager. The understandings revealed are founded on stories related by managers, telling us what real people actually do in difficult project situations, and are exemplified throughout using examples from those stories. "Playing the Project Manager is a rare example of serious inquiry into the actions and behaviour of project managers. Charles Smith draws on the lived experiences of competent project managers to show how they adopt different identities when 'performing on the project stage' and how this permeates their management style and approach. In contrast to the technical rationality of most project management books, this book offers a refreshing window into the professional artistry of effective project managers and offers valuable guidance on the different ways in which the project manager role can be performed." Dr Mark Winter, Senior Lecturer in Management Practice, Manchester Business School. "This is an interesting and highly entertaining book, by a very experienced researcher into the psychology of project management." David Pells, Editor, PM World Journal