Episode 428: Evan Barnett talks about cold, hard leadership, being unoffendable, and doing the basics really well

Looking for daily inspiration?  Get a quote from the top leaders in the industry in your inbox every morning.   Every year, millions of attraction visitors lose hours in line instead of making memories. Since its inception, accesso’s virtual queuing has saved more than 4.5 billion minutes of wait time, freeing guests to pack their day with more rides, eats, and excitement. The result? Happier guests who spend more and a better bottom line for you. Ready to turn waits into wins? Visit accesso.com/ROIClinic. The queues are virtual. The results are real. Evan Barnett is the President of Pyek Group. Starting in the industry at 16 cleaning restrooms at Water World USA, he was quickly thrust into leadership, moved from park services to water safety, and grew under strong mentors who sharpened his view of people-first operations. Today, Evan leads Pyek Group across four parks in three markets under two brands, focusing on culture, clarity of mission, and what he calls the “un-water park” mindset: hyper-clean facilities, great food, and genuine hospitality. In this interview, Evan talks about cold, hard leadership, being unoffendable, and doing the basics really well. Cold, hard leadership “It’s tough. It’s cold, hard leadership is really what it is. And it’s listening and understanding and just realizing, hey, give the other guy the benefit of the doubt.” Evan frames leadership as equal parts standards and empathy. Early in his career, he learned that perception is reality: a supervisor saw “slowness” while Evan was meticulously scrubbing grout with a toothbrush. That moment shaped how he equips teams by giving clear direction, the right tools, and assuming positive intent before judging outcomes. At Pyek Group, he translates this into over-communicating vision across varied brands and communities, aligning departments around a single mission so daily frictions become sparks that sharpen rather than burn. He also guards leaders’ attention from getting hijacked by edge cases. Rather than orbit the “loud 20%,” he pours recognition and coaching into the 80% who show up wanting to do great work, using high-fives, momentum building, and consistent standards. For Evan, culture is “caught, not taught,” spread through a thousand conversations and modeled behavior that make accountability feel fair and human. Being unoffendable “The one core value I really want to hone in on that we have is called unoffendable… be unoffendable, man.” Unoffendable is a Pyek Group core value, not an aspiration. Evan wants feedback to flow fast and candidly without venom and without weaponizing “brutal honesty.” In practice, that means seeking to understand before being understood, extending grace because everyone, including leaders, will need it back tomorrow. He links unoffendable behavior to hospitality itself: when a guest complains about cold food or long lines, defensive walls only distract from fixing the day. Empathy and grace let teams remediate quickly and leave people feeling cared for. Internally, the same posture fuels agility. Teams “fire themselves” metaphorically, stepping out to reset their mindset and reenter discussions ready to solve problems together. Evan emphasizes that core values must be binary and lived. You are kind, or you are not. You are unoffendable, or you are not. Keeping feedback direct but non-weaponized preserves trust, speeds pivots, and keeps focus on the guest experience over ego. Doing the basics really well “Just do the basics really well.” Borrowing a line he admires from Troy Aikman, Evan centers Pyek Group on mastery of fundamentals: smiling welcomes, clean spaces, good food, frictionless transactions, and consistent delivery day after day. He calls it “power in the mundane,” resetting every morning so the thousandth “Where are the lockers?” gets the same warm response as the first. That dependable baseline becomes a brand personality guests can feel, and it cannot be copied by simply duplicating slides or lazy rivers. Basics evolve, though. Orientation remains essential, but how teams learn must fit how they consume information today, using short, bite-sized training and tools they can use immediately on Day One. Evan is unafraid to reverse course when basics are misread. The lesson, letting fans tell you what matters and then amplifying it, keeps “basic” tightly aligned with real expectations. You can reach Evan at [email protected], and learn more about Pyek Group at pyekgroup.com. This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:   Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas   To connect with AttractionPros: AttractionPros.com [email protected] AttractionPros on Facebook AttractionPros on LinkedIn AttractionPros on Instagram AttractionPros on Twitter (X)