Forgive me if this is naive but I thought the way it's supposed to work is that you pick a phd advisor/program whose goals/research match your interests. Exter

Forgive me if this is naive but I thought the way it's supposed to work is that you pick a phd advisor/program whose goals/research match your interests. External funding means there will always be some compromise but couldn't we draw a similar analogy with companies and their customers? I would hope a phd program would allow someone to work on their interests (aligned with their advisor's) for a much longer time than a comparable job in industry would allow.