Smithsonian Institute is sponsoring a conference next July/August in Copenhagen on this very subject. I've been asked to submit, but like I said earlier in the post, I do not have the horsepower, academically, yet.
There is "horsepower" and there is "horsepower." Doctorates are great things and deserve respect. Experience is also a great thing and a combination of academia and experience is hard to beat.

If a "learned" audience is unable to grasp ideas you may have to offer, I repeat Mama Gump's rule in reverse, "Stupid does because Stupid is," because they may be learned but they remain stupid.

In sum don't sell yourself short. I do not have a doctorate; I have 2 masters and they served me well. I don't dismiss the effort or the recognition deserved for a doctorate. Most doctorates in my fields of specialization don't have my experience and many in my experience feel somewhat threatened by it. I first ran into this early in my time in the history department at Leavenworth when I set out to write an LP. The nay-sayers were the insecure PhDs; I was eating from their rice bowls. My biggest supporters were PhDs who mentored and challenged me to produce something worthwhile. They also produced; the nay sayers never have to this day.

Best

Tom