What a load of bullshit. You think you need to have "Dr" in front of your name to get respect? Please... "I'm rich bitch" works just as well.
How many "expert employees" are already working for dickhead nobodies? They get paid and that's good enough for most people.
Being smart and having an education are two completely different things BTW.
I'd say it depends on the industry. ExxonMobil's past CEO had a PhD in Chemical Engineering, the current one has his degree in Civil Engineering. Tony Heyward (who was a good CEO he just fucked up the spill situation) has his PhD in Geology. The Chairman of the Board of Shell has his Masters in Engineering Physics. The previous CEO of Chevron has his degree in Chemical Engineering.
Some industries you need the knowledge to be at the top.
"A degree doesn't necessarily mean that you're smart."
Truth. But if you are smart and you have the knowledge and training to back it, you're even stronger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harris_Simons
Ph.D in Math, founded a hedge fund based on using Math and Physics to predict trends in the stock market, hires other Ph.Ds (only) as quants. Net worth $8.5 Billion. He founded the Medallion Fund:
"For the 11 years ending in December 1999, Medallion’s cumulative returns were 2,478.6 percent. Among all offshore funds over that same period, according to the database run by hedge fund observer Antoine Bernheim, the next-best performer was George Soros’ Quantum Fund, with a 1,710.1 percent return.[10] A measurement of the risk (e.g., beta, volatility, or leverage figures) which accompanied its high annual returns is not publicly available. In 2009 the Medallion fund topped the list of the most profitable hedge funds with profits of over $1 billion"
He still speaks at conferences for mathematics specifically on differential and non-euclidian geometry:
His dissertation:
"``On the Transitivity of Holonomy Systems.'' It dealt with the geometry of multi-dimensional curved spaces and related to work by Singer and Ambrose."