My experience with people like this has been that they have a "yes, but" to everything you say; some reason that makes them special and not subject to the laws

My experience with people like this has been that they have a "yes, but" to everything you say; some reason that makes them special and not subject to the laws of the domain. If they haven't put the work in to become craftsmen, it means that they don't want to (they want to BE a craftsman, not work to become one). After this situation has happened enough, you eventually realize that brutal honesty really is the most humane approach, because otherwise they just aren't going to listen, and it'll be one long, unpleasant train wreck.