In plenty of non-USA countries, a PhD is basically a prerequisite to enter the higher echelons of government and the corporate world. Not saying it should be l

In plenty of non-USA countries, a PhD is basically a prerequisite to enter the higher echelons of government and the corporate world. Not saying it should be like that, nor that it is completely impossible to advance in those countries without. It's more that there's a glass ceiling through which you'll have to break if you don't have a PhD. And I have talked with PhD students with such backgrounds who were quite clear on that. For a (to me) surprising number of them, an academic career was not the main goal at all (not necessarily completely ruled out, but not the original main goal).