I don't think that's what the article says:

> The researchers found that people who exhibited both competence, through the use of challenging voice, and trustworthiness, through the use of supportive voice, were the most in-demand people when it came to assembling teams. [emphasis mine]

and later,

> “Our findings suggest that when people feel like they can trust you, even if you’re not necessarily the best worker, they’re going to be more likely to want to work with you,” Maupin said. “They know that there are likely to be fewer interpersonal issues in that case.”

So the article is not saying "be a lemming because no one cares how good you are," it's saying being supportive of others has a greater positive impact on how others see you than your willingness to challenge others' ideas and signal your competency.

You can challenge people and things while being trustworthy and friendly. I've found it's the best way to do it, actually.

You can't fake being a nice person and getting along. It's obvious to everyone, and people dislike you even more. They might fake being nice in return, but they'll avoid interacting with you and won't go to bat for you when it matters.

The level of conformism in typical corporation is really hard to digest. It reminds me of communism (the implementation not the design). There was conformism there too but not at the level you see now. It seems that people that live on credit their whole lives while beeing 2 weeks from termination at any given time really brings out the worst in them.