Unless you've been living under a rock, even if you know nothing about pop culture in general, you've heard about this event of the pop singer Rihanna "allegedly" suffering physical abuse at the hands of her "boyfriend" Chris Brown, another famous singer at the present time. It's also possible that, by extension, you've heard that recently she and Brown have been seen together, and are possibly back together again, three weeks after the event.

Whereas many might dismiss this as an entertainment curiosity, I tend to believe that this is one of the most important leadership evaluation opportunities we've ever had. This may seem odd, but go with me for a short bit and let me see if I can convince you.

Rihanna is at near the top of today's pop music world. What she does affects young girls in various ways. Young people are always looking to that next "star" as someone they want to emulate, someone they want to follow, someone they want to be with. Ultimately, even though Charles Barkley tried to diffuse it many years ago, Rihanna is a role model, plain and simple. And, by defacto reasoning, that makes her a leader on some sort in today's world. She didn't ask for it, but that's the nature of the beast.

All of us hope that anyone who's considered a leader will always consider how others perceive each and every action they make. In this case, many people were happy that, for once, someone this famous actually made a statement and filed a complaint against her attacker. Now, many people are upset that she seems to be sending a message to young girls that it's okay to get beaten and battered, then go back to the person who did it to them. This isn't a small issue; it's putting panic into many women's shelters, who see this sort of thing every day. Sure, I know the other side of the argument is that every person should have the right to make decisions for themselves, based on their own criteria, but if someone made a decision that they had the right to spin the chamber on a pistol and take another shot at committing suicide by trying to shoot themselves in the temple, would we all just agree and stand by watching?

Many of us like to think that leaders are established sometimes when crisis comes. Unfortunately, leaders are sometimes established by others who, for whatever reason, look to someone else as their leader in some fashion. It's at times like this when parents need to step up to the plate and become leaders for their children, when they see negative behavior of famous people and know their children might be watching. In this case, though, it's not just children. My thought is that there are way more young women who will see this action by Rihanna as a confirmation of why they went back to abusive relationships, rather than seeing how physically abused evangelist Juanita Bynum decided that wasn't going to happen again and filed for divorce immediately after being beaten by her husband at the time, Thomas Weeks. She may be big in religion, but her "fame" is nothing compared to where Rihanna is at this moment in time.

The lesson for the rest of us is that we have to always be ready to learn, then teach, the proper lessons when someone who's been deemed a leader, for no other reason than being famous, does something that affects so many other people on the back end. This happens in business, where companies take a major tumble because someone at the top has created negative publicity; if you don't believe me, ask the United Way if it's recovered from its own very public scandal many years ago.

Don't dismiss this Rihanna issue as a fluke; embrace it as an opportunity to educate others on what true leadership is supposed to be.