I very much agree. I'm a (grad student) statistician and most of my time is spent developing models, running simulations, etc.. But once I have all the results,

I very much agree. I'm a (grad student) statistician and most of my time is spent developing models, running simulations, etc.. But once I have all the results, I need to find a way to present them in a way that is both informative, and inviting. So I had to learn how to make beautiful plots. I used to be terrible at it, but one of my supervisors was very strict about plots: he would literally refuse to read reports in which plots weren't perfect (even draft reports). So I learnt how to make great plots (using ggplot2 for those who know R). At first, it took me forever to make any plot. Now, I can make very good ones in seconds. So yes, instead of thinking of zero sum games, think of it as training.