[Donthatme]

> A lot of the problems in academia, I believe, come from incompetence, a lack of questioning or at least of doubting others' competence and your own competence, and reliance on unsound ideas about scientific methodology.

I kind of agree, but I will state it somewhat differently. Note my experience is in physics and healthcare, so may not apply for all fields.

In my experience, the desired skill set shifts to more management/admin/bureaucracy/money-chasing once your in a professor or professor-like position, as opposed to nitty-gritty researcher in the grad school phase. The incentives for the grad school phase is good science. The incentives for the professor-like phase is grants/papers/awards.