Legendary Leadership From Adele on Friday Night

It could have been a very frustrating Friday night for thousands of Adele fans caught on delayed Sydney trains. Having bought tickets months in advance for a sell-out show, imagine missing half the concert because of public transport.

Adele, who is known for being punctual, adapted to the moment and made a decision to delay her concert by 45min. It would have been easy for her to stick to the plan, probably less stressful too because it wasn't 'her fault' that fans were late.

Amazingly, when she did come on stage, Adele apologised for the delay! There was no excuses, finger pointing, or blaming Sydney trains - she just owned it. To her, it didn't matter who was at fault, it just mattered there were potentially thousands of unhappy fans if she did what she was 'supposed' to do and start on time. Instead, Adele took responsibility for the situation, bent the rules and delayed the start because it was the 'right' thing to do; and as a result built even more raving loyalty from her fans.

Half way through the concert, I noticed a stretcher being rushed towards the VIP area, close to where Adele was performing. Emergency workers were on the scene for a few minutes. At the same time the lights were off as Adele was starting to perform her hit song Rolling In The Deep.

The next thing I know, Adele calls a stop to the concert, she says "Somebody got hurt and I need to know they're ok"...."Can you clear the aisles".... "Is it ok for me to continue, this next song has fireworks?"....

Adele demonstrated genuine concern for her fan, again breaking the rules for all the right reasons. The easy option would have been traditional thought processes of 'the show must go on...' and 'I'll let the emergency workers deal with that'... and 'It's not my job, I'm just here to perform'.

I hear that on Saturday night she even dedicated a song to the fan who was still in hospital.

To me, Adele is not only a great singer, but she's an awesome leader. These two major and unforeseen events tested her natural reactions to not one, but two high stress situations. Instead of ploughing on pretending everything was ok, on both occasions she embraced the difficult situations and dealt with them like an inspiring leader.

She's built more respect, greater loyalty, more advocates in those two situations than she probably built from the entire concert. Because the concert was an 'expectation', but her response to these two events were miles above 'expectations'.

Adele - You rock (and roll in the deep), I'm impressed!