Jeff Barnes is a successful author, having penned The Wisdom of Walt: Leadership Lessons from the Happiest Place on Earth, and other books. He let me know that he had relevant stories for this book, and wow – his stories connect perfectly into the key themes we’re discussing.
Gratitude, but Not Without Dysfunction
Jeff Barnes spent 22 years in higher education, and while he’s grateful for how it shaped his career, he doesn’t mince words about the dysfunction he encountered.
“Incredibly dysfunctional and toxic,” Jeff said. “I was mystified and baffled that even asking simple questions or holding people accountable was seen as a radical act.”
Calling Out the Lies—And Paying the Price
At one point, Jeff was responsible for a campus, making decisions that directly impacted students. But what baffled him most? The blatant dishonesty from leadership.
“VPs would literally tell bold-faced lies,” Jeff said. “And being me, I called them out on it. Then my colleagues would look at me like I was crazy—What the hell are you doing? He’s the VP.”
“Yeah, but he’s up there lying,” Jeff would say in response.
That didn’t matter. The system was built to tolerate dysfunction, with zero tolerance for those who questioned it.
A System Rotting from the Inside
Jeff left that organization in 2013, but the decay continued. “Those campuses only deteriorated further. The same people at the top kept making bad decisions, getting recycled and promoted into new roles—without any merit.”
But Jeff isn’t looking to burn bridges. “I still have friends and contacts there,” Jeff said. “But leadership matters. Culture counts. And allowing bad people to be promoted instead of holding them accountable? Completely asinine.”
O.J. Simpson and the Tolerance for Incompetence
Jeff did a presentation on the 30th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson trial, using it as an example of how incompetence and our tolerance for dysfunction allowed the system to fail in holding people accountable.
“Our incompetence, and our tolerance for it, allowed O.J. to walk,” Jeff said. “Nothing is ever said, and we just tolerate it. Once you see it, you’ll never see the world the same way.”
The Family System That Trains Us to Look Away
Jeff believes this mentality starts young, within our own families. He recounted a story:
“At a family party, a kid took a dump in the pool. Instead of addressing the issue, the bigger violation was calling it out. Another kid – not the one who did it – pointed out that there was a turd in the pool. His grandma immediately started hitting him as hard as she could for speaking up. That’s how systems work—it’s OK to lie, but it’s not OK to call out the lie.”
The same logic applies in the workplace.
“It’s okay for the VP to lie, but not OK to call him out for lying,” Jeff said.
The Illusion of Competence
One of the biggest lessons Jeff learned? People aren’t as smart or competent as we assume.
“There’s someone I’m connected to who keeps trying to coach me while refusing to address her own root causes,” I said. “I’m not judging her, but I’ve noticed she’s incongruent – poking holes in my approach instead of facing herself. She means well, but something feels off. In the past, I wouldn’t have caught this.”
“She’s just floating by on assumptions and the tolerance for incompetence,” Jeff said.
And nowhere is this clearer than in higher education.
The Business of Education: A Profitable Illusion
“Education is the ONE thing Americans are willing to pay for but don’t truly want,” Jeff said. “The business knows it and makes millions off of it.”
He described an outrageous example: “A course I took, I got an A—without any instruction, no exams, just BS. The professor outright admitted, ‘I don’t know how to use Blackboard.’ But no one held him accountable, so he got away with it.”
Even when students were blatantly wronged, accountability was nonexistent. “A class got canceled due to a flooded bathroom,” Jeff said. “Only one student asked for a refund—20 others didn’t. The admin’s response? ‘If we do it for this one student, then how many more will ask? God forbid we do the right thing.’”
“This is so ass-backwards,” I said.
“Exactly,” Jeff said.
A Society That’s Been Numbed
“The blatant lack of accountability is everywhere,” Jeff said. “It’s bad out there. And to some degree, we’ve been anesthetized. We’re taught to keep our heads low, do it again, and repeat it for the next 40 years.”
But Jeff refuses to stay silent. “Leadership matters,” he said. “Culture counts. And the only way things change is when people finally stop tolerating the dysfunction.”
Jeff Barnes is an author and speaker, using the powerful wisdom of Walt Disney to empower leaders to level up. He helps organizations build a culture of creativity and success.
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