In the real world you are THE responsive professional, and you tell people that the important thing is going to be wrong, politely but repeatedly, and they actually listen to you. And when you repeat it in simple words long enough, they eventually would understand. That's how it works. Or at least you land on better terms so you don't have to make a deal with your conscience.
How they know if it won't work if they didn't try? They just sigh and go on spending their time doing busywork, spending corporate money or failing projects.
I have a friend who runs into these kinds of problems all the time. Complains incessently about them, how he hates IT/networking and wants to get out of it. Every story he tells reminds me how grateful I am to work at an amazing company. His excuse for not finding an amazing company? He doesn't want to move away from where he lives.
What can you say to someone in that position?
I guess the same people who work at nice jobs where they make a difference would continue to make so elsewhere and this in fact is what let them where they're now.