Odysseus: A Lousy Leader

Homer writes about stubborn characters who are challenging for Odysseus because he is losing their trust everyday that him and his crew were not back home to their families. Although he is known for being a cunning and intelligent character, he is not the most mentally stable person. Odysseus has had his hypocritical moments which have caused plenty to question his leadership skills.

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is an effective leader in chapter twelve. A leader who has too much pride is now showing too much humbleness for what’s important by following all the things he has told to do to save his crew and himself. He does what he is told to do to save his crew and keep them safe. “ But now, fearing death , all eyes fixed on Charybdis now Scylla snatched six men from our hollow ship, the toughest, strongest hands I had, and glancing backwards over the decks, searching or my crew I could see their hands and feet already hoisted, failing, high, higher, over my head, look wailing down at me, comrades riven in agony. Shrieking out my name for one last time” ( XII 265-270). This quote clearly makes us see that Odysseus has

In the Odyssey “the Sirens” by Homer, Odysseus demonstrates his leadership skills and by devising a plan to hear the Sirens song without being tricked to stay on the island because he wants to keep himself and his men safe. Odysseus says to his men, “Dear friends, more than one man or two, should know those things Circe foresaw for us and shared with me, so let me tell her forecast”(975). Instead of withholding the information from his men, Odysseus tells them their fate. This shows Odysseus, as a leader, decided to tell his men what was going on at this time because he felt he trusted his men to follow the plan and help him. At other times in the story, Odysseus withholds information from his men as another tactic to essentially help them

Throughout the whole journey, Odysseus makes impulsive decisions by never sticking to one plan. In the beginning, Odysseus and his men are stuck in a cyclops cave. In order to get away from the cyclops, he offers him "some wine"(Fitzgerald 123). Though it is a good idea to get the cyclops drunk to escape, many men had already died at the hands of the cyclops. Odysseus could have had a better plan before many men died. Later on, dressed as a beggar, Odysseus gets offended by Antinous and starts “making cruel plans in his heart” (Fagles 59-60). Instead of confronting Antinous, Odysseus

Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, however, what gives someone the title of a good or bad is decided by the decisions they make and how those decisions affect others. Odysseus led the squadron of soldiers in the trojan horse and is a hero of the Trojan War and the king of Ithaca. Consequently, this gives him experience when it comes acting in difficult situations. This experience should guide him to choose correctly when being put in a tight spot. However, in the Odyssey, Odysseus makes choices that both his crew and the reader find questionable. Although Odysseus has some positive attributes he is a bad leader for the following reasons he keeps secrets from his crew, he falls asleep at inappropriate times and is arrogant to a fault.

A great leader views the world like he is looking through 3D glasses, always seeing the depth and vibrancy of the possibilities around him. A bad leader is like a cyclops wearing an eyepatch, never able to see his mighty hand in front of his own face. In The Odyssey, Homer illustrates the journey home to Ithaca taken by Odysseus and his men. Unfortunately, Odysseus makes poor choices throughout his travels and his actions often do more harm than good. Two character traits define Odysseus and shape his poor leadership style. The first trait is that he is a very arrogant person and this often puts him and his men in danger. Secondly, Odysseus can be deceitful and not fully communicate the facts of each situation. Odysseus was a weak leader and his lack of vision in not seeing the strength and possibilities in his men combined with his inability to effectively communicate to those around him ultimately led to his failure of not being able to safely deliver his men back to Ithaca.

Homer created a complex leader to show that the weakness in someone doesn’t define them, it’s the way they approach the situation that will define you as a person. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is a complex leader because he’s supposed to lead his group home to Ithaca, but he makes some pretty selfish and rash decisions that are not what you’d expect from a leader. By doing so, this shows Odysseus’ character flaws, but it also shows his strengths. When Odysseus stayed on Circe’s island for an unnecessary amount of time, this showed his weakness, not being able to resist the urge to sleep with women. In contrast, it also showed his strength because he gained his ground after losing track of home, and found the strength to gather his men and leave.

A powerful leader shows the strength of a lion and the wisdom of an owl. One gets their men out of any predicament they may find themselves in while staying mostly intact. It’s difficult, but the main character Odysseus often makes the correct and moral decision. Intelligence is greatly valued in the world of ancient Greece and Odysseus is fortuitous enough to have it. In The Odyssey, intelligence is seen as an important trait to the Greeks because quick thinking and careful decisions shows a great likelihood of becoming a strong leader.

When Odysseus and some of his crew stumble across Polyphemos’ cave, his crew suggests they take the goods from the cave and run. But Odysseus refuses and “‘wished to see the cavemen, what he had to offer- no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends’”(151). As illustrated Odysseus refuses to listen to his crew’s advice, and as a result, several of them are eaten. Odysseus throughout the story shows several other instances of hubris, where he does what he wants regardless of the advice given to him by others. Ultimately his crew pays for his hubris, as they all die due to Odysseus’ refusal to listen to Kirke’s advice and avoid the island where Helios keeps his cattle. Therefore Odysseus is a bad leader since he refuse to take advice, which consequently results in the detriment of his

Odysseus was filled with curiosity and “insist on waiting for the barbaric giant” (9.215-20). The men should have been more intelligent and have not gone with Odysseus to the cave. The crew should have said no and stop Odysseus from going. While they were in the cave, a few men were eaten by Cyclops, “he clustered at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor” (9.280). This could've been prevented if the men didn’t follow Odysseus into the death trap. Cyclops would’ve ate all of Odysseus’ men alive if they were more cautious. Odysseus was the one to come up with a plan, “running through tactics, reasonings as man will dear for life, until a trick came” while the men were no help at all (9.420). When they got out with the plan of Odysseus, Cyclop asked his father, Poseidon, to kill all of them. Odysseus’ crew had the opportunity to stay alive but they didn’t think and some died in the

Odysseus was an effective leader for many reasons.One reason is that in Book ten his men had been captured by the sorceress Circe,and he took up the journey to find them.This shows his effectiveness as a leader because as a leader you have to be courageous and go into situations you would not normally have to. Another example is when he was in the house of death he said he would come back out and try to lead them home and that is exactly what he did.This shows effectiveness as a leader because leaders are supposed to be dependable,and he was there for them throughout the entire story. No matter what happened,he told them he would do try to lead them home and he told them exactly what they needed to do to live . Finally throughout the entire

In the Epic poem,The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as a great leader and hero. In the poem Odysseus is a brave and noble leader who fears nothing. He also is very intelligent, who knows how to get out of tough situations without hesitation. Odysseus, “The Great Sacker of Cities,” is a hero because he... because why?

In order to be defined as a leader, one must be loyal, decisive and able to take the initiative. According to this definition, Odysseus does not fit the profile of a leader. For example, he is loyal to neither his wife nor crew. When Odysseus visited Circe, he disregarded his marriage to Penelope. By engaging in intercourse, he violated the trust of his wife while she remained loyal, despite the urges from the suitors. In addition, he fails to show loyalty to his crew. Through his indecisiveness, numerous members on his crew perished. For example, Circe advised Odysseus to avoid fighting Scylla. Instead of listening to the advice, he prepared to fight the monster and, as a result, lost six of his best men. Another instance in which Odysseus

It’s a classical moral dilemma: do you lie or keep information from those you care about in order to better their lives, or do you tell them the truth, and risk ruining the relationship or potentially, some aspect of their life. This problem is portrayed in many forms of media, and it’s not always handled the same way. In The Odyssey, the protagonist, Odysseus, is forced to make this decision, with the negative outlook being the death of his crew members. As the leader, Odysseus is the one faced with making such decisions. While he initially has poor leadership skills at the beginning of his journey, Odysseus does have great potential as a leader, and as such, his leadership skills grow over the course of The Odyssey.

In my opinion I think he was a heroic person, back at the chapter “Death in the Great Hall” He was disguised as a beggar and was able to string his own bow and shoot it thru the holes of the axes and revealed himself as Odysseus and killed all the suitors in his house and took back his land. Back when he was at the cyclopes island He blinded the cyclops and shouted his name and told the cyclops that he needs no one to help him. he is a powerful man, then, later on, he got cursed by most of the gods and he was to die, but that didn 't stop him.