By now most of you have heard the news and seen the video. Burna Boy was in the middle of a performance in Denver, Colorado, when he noticed a fan sleeping in the front row. He immediately paused his performance to ask security to kick out the fan and insisted he would not continue until she was evacuated. The incident has since sent shockwaves around the globe, leading to many concertgoers boycotting his shows, causing low ticket sales and cancellations in other cities around the world.

The issue wasn’t just that he kicked a paying fan out of his show, the big red flag was that after hearing the sleeping fan was grieving, he didn’t show any empathy but instead doubled down on his reason for kicking her out. He also made comments that made his fans believe he doesn’t value them, saying something along the lines of “it is rich fans he is looking for now.”

Here is the major lesson for high performers

It is easy to hear the story and judge Burna Boy or call him arrogant. But how many high performers and highly competent people move with this same level of arrogance in their business or workplace? High-level, validated competence often breeds a very high level of confidence that can eventually become arrogance. Without awareness and competence in key soft skills, it can lead to the downfall of the individual, destruction of team dynamics, or even entire organisations.

Here are some Burna Boy traits your average highly competent person possesses:

1. They believe the success of projects and the business revolves around them alone, often ignoring the role that other colleagues and team members play.
2. They believe their perspective and ideas are always superior and are dismissive of others’ feedback.
3. They see others’ inability to perform at their level as incompetence and are unaware of the unique strengths those people possess.
4. They struggle with empathy for others’ weaknesses and limitations (and often believe they have none themselves, or that their strengths make their weaknesses insignificant).
5. They believe in their competence and skills so much that they disregard the importance of soft skills — the very skills that allow them to sustain success and create healthy team dynamics that lead to even greater levels of success for organisations and businesses.

Here are 3 major soft skills Burna Boy lacked in this situation — skills high performers NEED to sustain success:

1. Gratitude

Before every high performer reaches a position of power — whether selling out concerts globally or leading teams in major organisations — they dream of being in that position with hope and excitement.

When they finally get there and receive consistent validation for their output, they often shift from feeling grateful to feeling like they deserve to be there. While feeling deserving is not a bad thing (high performers work extremely hard), lacking gratitude makes them lose sight of their why (using their competence to serve a higher purpose) and get caught up in the what (titles, positions, accolades, validation). This also makes them lose sight of the people and resources that make their success possible.

2. Empathy

The major thing this scandal revealed to his core fans is his lack of empathy. Honestly, it was a very simple issue to resolve if he leaned more into empathy than ego.

All he and his team had to do was announce that they would fly out the grieving fan to his next show, give her backstage access, exclusive merchandise, and take some photo ops. That would have shown fans that he values them.

As a high performer, having empathy for your team members’ challenges and real-life struggles builds deeper trust and motivates people to give their best. If you spoke or behaved harshly toward a colleague or team member and they were offended, you should have the empathy and humility to make amends.

3. Conflict Resolution

The goal of conflict resolution is to arrive at a win-win where both parties feel heard and understood. After fans heard about the incident and outrage spread regarding Burna Boy’s conduct, he didn’t seem to care what his listeners (and even colleagues like Eminem) had to say. He was more focused on protecting his ego and defending his actions.

Being highly competent does not put you above mistakes — and it does not put you above apologies. In fact, apologising shows courage and vulnerability, both of which are essential for conflict resolution and building strong team dynamics.

The biggest thing organisations and businesses can learn from the Burna Boy crisis is that investing in soft skills training and 1-1 coaching for their high performers is not a “nice to have,” but a must have.

This investment ensures sustained success, healthy team dynamics, a strong corporate culture, and excellent business relations and customer experience.

You don’t have to navigate the challenges of high performance alone.

With my High Performance 1-on-1 Coaching, you’ll receive personalised, structured guidance tailored to your unique strengths, goals, and leadership context. Together, we’ll strengthen your soft skills, build resilience, and ensure your competence translates into sustainable success — for you, your team, and your organisation.

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