There is something about leadership that is often misunderstood. We tend to think leadership is mainly about being the person at the front, giving instructions, making decisions and taking the applause when things go right. But sometimes, leadership is revealed in a much simpler question: What do you do when someone on your team is being treated unfairly?
A recent video from one of Davido’s performances in the UK caught my attention for this reason.
From the clip circulating online, the Afrobeats star appeared to take exception to something happening around one of his team members. Whatever exactly happened before the camera captured the moment, Davido’s response was clear enough: he warned the audience that if the behaviour continued, he would walk away from the performance.
One may not know the full story behind the incident, and we would rather not pretend to know what cannot be established from a short video. But the leadership lesson seen is worth discussing.
Your people need to know that you have their back.
There is a difference between having employees, assistants, security personnel, dancers, managers and other people working around you and actually building a team. A team is built when people know that while they are expected to give their best, they will not be left alone when things go wrong.
This is particularly important for someone operating at Davido’s level.
At that level of fame, it would be easy to become detached from the people working behind the scenes. The artist is the one the audience has paid to see. The lights are on him. The cameras are on him. The applause is for him. Yet every major performance depends on dozens of people whose names the audience may never know.
The manager who coordinates the details. The security personnel who create a safe environment. The crew members moving equipment. The dancers. The technicians. The assistants. The people ensuring that the star can simply walk onto the stage and do what he does best.
A leader who understands this knows that disrespecting the people behind the performance is not something to casually ignore.
And perhaps that is what makes the moment interesting.
Davido could have simply continued performing. After all, the crowd came to see him. He could have decided that whatever was happening was somebody else’s problem. Instead, at least from the clip, he appeared willing to put his own performance on the line to make a point about how someone around him should be treated.
That is not necessarily the easiest leadership decision.
Leadership sometimes requires you to inconvenience yourself for the people you lead.
It means being willing to say, “This is not acceptable,” even when remaining silent would be easier. It means understanding that protecting your people does not make you weak. Sometimes, it makes them more committed to you.
Of course, there is another side to this.
Standing up for your team should not mean excusing wrongdoing simply because the person involved works for you. Good leadership is not blind loyalty. It is fair accountability. You should be able to defend your people when they are treated wrongly and correct them when they are wrong.
That balance is important.
But there is something powerful about knowing that the person at the top will not abandon you at the first sign of trouble.
I have always believed that people may forget some of the instructions a leader gives them, but they rarely forget how that leader made them feel when they were vulnerable.
And this is where the Davido moment, whether intentional or not, becomes bigger than entertainment.
The lesson applies to CEOs, business owners, managers, pastors, politicians, parents and anyone responsible for other people.
Your position gives you authority, but how you use that authority determines whether people merely work for you or genuinely believe in you.
People don’t only need leaders who can take them to the front. They need leaders who will also stand beside them when the pressure comes.
So, perhaps the most interesting thing about that viral clip isn’t whether Davido was right or wrong about whatever happened before the camera started recording.
Perhaps it is the reminder that leadership is not only about how loudly people cheer for you. Sometimes, it is about how firmly you stand for the people who helped you get on that stage.
And sometimes, the strongest message a leader can send is simple:
“You may disrespect me, but you will not disrespect the people standing with me.”
That is a leadership lesson worth paying attention to.