Lofty PhD expectations

My boss's boss's boss came through my lab and asked me what I was working on. I told him, and he mentioned that he didn't think the direction could work. I explained initial results and he blew them off and said, "Academics have gotten similar results, and those will never be viable products."  There's a real disdain/disbelief in industry of academic results. Well, most industry. I've seen a few situations where they have faith in academic R&D.

This encounter resulted in a lot of arguing. I maintained my cool the whole time. He yelled. And a lot. And a lot more. I sat there and continued to argue, and at the end of the argument he said, "We need to start reevaluating your priorities." Then he left. Now, I'm used to this kind of arguing, and actually I secretly enjoy it since I'm correct most of the time, and learn stuff when I'm wrong.  What happened afterward was interesting...

There's a guy with a master's in engineering on our team that was in the room with us during the argument. He said, "I'm glad I don't have a PhD and don't have to constantly justify my work as much." He doesn't come up with general ideas, he comes up with methods to implement our ideas. He's a great engineer. So his comment got me thinking about expectations. 

As PhDs we have expectations that we are all-knowing, brilliant human beings, that can answer any question in our field. My company has an invisible ceiling in promotion in science and engineering unless you hold a PhD. We are expected to be able to have very productive input in every team meeting for every product line we have. In fact, the person I replaced had a BS, and every time I'm introduced to someone new, they say, this is Phindustry, they replaced Previousperson, but Phindustry has a PhD. It changes the expectations because of the PhD culture. 

But having PhDs, and knowing other people with them, we know how full of shit this is. We know a lot about a few specialized things, and more-than-the-average-Joe about other things, but we're not God. We have holes in our knowledge and abilities.  I don't know how to combat this stigma (which is good, I guess), or if it should be combatted. But I realize that I'm on the offensive/defensive more frequently that our 'lesser' degree counterparts, and I prefer a more casual discussion type of atmosphere.