I've stumbled upon a presentation by Ron Jacobs on the Software architect's role (via Shahid Sah's blog) called Architects and the Architecture of Software. In this presentation Ron compares the architect's role for that of an explorer, an advocate and a designer.

While I can go for the designer bit - although I don't like the heavy analogy to building architects (I know, I know I have that as well in my software architecture presentation - but at least it is no longer there in the next version)

However I would personally replace advocate with a mentor and explorer with a polymath or renaissance man and add a leader and visionary as well (although Ron mentiones that as part of the discussion on explorer)

Advocate is someone who observes, listens and gives advice - but a mentor is someone who helps others reach the right decisions and help them learn and evolve. I think that has much more value. I want a Socrates not an Alan Dershowitz on my team

An explorer looks for new grounds and is a bit of a visionary - but a renaissance man is both knowledgable and inventive. As a development manager I rather have someone who knows what he is doing, understand the wider perspective and can find solutions to my problems - and not someone who would take me on a road to uncharted territories. I'd take Leonardo Da Vinchi over Columbos ( who accidently gave the competitive edge to spain and didn't even know it) any day.

A visionary and leader is also important - you want someone who is able to look far and that can help your team get there- I guess that is somewhat akin to an explorer (in the sense Ron mentions) but again I'd rather have a Martin Luther King than a Columbos (though lucky wouldn't heart).

But hey, that's just my opinion