Odysseus Leadership Skills In Homer's Odyssey

The question of whether or not Odysseus, the main character in Homer’s The Odyssey, is a good leader is very difficult to answer; however, it seems as though the bad things he did trumped the good things he did, resulting in him being classified as a weak leader. Countless times in this epic, Odysseus is very arrogant and cocky, which puts his men’s lives in danger more times than not. For example, when they entered the cave of Polyphemus the cyclops, the majority of his men wanted to leave so they wouldn’t get eaten. Odysseus, however, decides to test Polyphemus’ hospitality, ultimately resulting in 6 deaths. He made his decision knowing the danger he was putting his men in, which isn’t something a strong leader would do. Strong leaders should

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

The Odyssey, by Homer, is an epic poem that is about a hero's journey to come home. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has many obstacles he has to face to find his way home, like Polyphemus the cyclops or Scylla and Charybdis. He finally makes it home and has to prove to his wife that he is truly Odysseus. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus has important traits that help him survive resulting in his successful trip back home. In fact, his character traits can connect to others in the world, like determination. Odysseus’s determination throughout his adventures is a similar trait that I share and has brought us both success.

In the epic The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus can be categorized as a bad leader because he is a bystander to preventable deaths of his crew members and exhibits poor authority amongst his group.

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.

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.

The character Oedipus fits Aristotle 's criterion of character as a leader and a person because he remains consistent in trying to remove the curse from Thebes. In the introduction, Oedipus is addressing the priest about the condition of his city. "You are sick to death, but no one is as sick as I. / Your pain strikes each of you alone, each / in the confess of himself, no other. . . . my spirit / grieves for this city, for myself and all of you" (205). This shows a quality of a consistency because as a leader, he cares so much for his people as much to say that he suffers when when his people are suffering. He remains like this throughout the play. The second example is from the end of the play, when Oedipus is addressing the leader after Jocasta has just run off the stage. "Let it burst!

The theme of disobedience is very prominent in this episode. The poor choices Odysseus makes as well as his foolish men. In other episodes in the Odyessy like Scylla and Charybdis, The Lotus Eaters, and most episodes’ disobedience was also a problem. In the Sirens and Cyclops episode Odysseus’ men where more obedient when they were in threating situation. If this episode was never told in the book of the Odyssey, the readers would be missing out on how important it is to be obedient and trusting your own instincts. Odyessus and his men would probably have arrived to Itchia alot sooner with no

A hero is a person who is recognized or idealized for his or her outstanding achievements and noble qualities. The deaths of his men are the result of Odysseus’ weaknesses. The possession of the character trait, arrogance, does not help him in escaping, but rather puts him closer to danger. Another trait that ends up killing a number of his men is his lack of leadership skills, or rather the lack of respect and trust from his men. In some parts of this epic poem, Odysseus also displays the characteristic, foolishness, in which that also results in the deaths of a number of his men. In the epic poetry, “The Odyssey,” by Homer, Odysseus exhibits his arrogance, foolishness, and his lack of leadership in which it leads to him going home by himself.

Odysseus speaks with such clarity and efficiency that his men can follow his orders. The loyal men represent the ears of all who hear Odysseus’ words and follow him as a leader. When the men arrived at Helios’ island, Odysseus said, “’Old shipmates, our stores are in the ship’s hold, food and drink; the cattle here are not for our provision or we pay dearly for it’” (The Odyssey, 335-38). Odysseus tries to protect his men from harm by warning them about the cattle. Odysseus cares about what happens to his men and his communication skills saves himself and them from danger. Communication skills are one of the key factors to Odysseus’ good

Odysseus is a leader that portrays both non-heroic and heroic traits throughout the story. These traits reflect his way of thinking and what actions he takes. These traits fluctuate from bravery to overconfidence. Nonetheless, the traits all contribute to the hero and as a result, they contribute to the story.

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

Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another. In the Odyssey, Odysseus needed to make a lot of decisions that are right for himself and his crew. He needed to get out of hard situations without loosing crew member or loosing his own life. Odysseus was a strong leader and did everything he could to help his crew because he needed to find a way out Cyclops' cave and he needed to choose whether or not he wanted to lose 6 crew members or lose everything.

In the Epic, “The Odyssey,” written by Homer, is the story of a man named, Odysseus, and his experiences and his exploration told through many episodes within the story. Odysseus, as the leader of his men, he lacks qualities of humility, empathy, and focus, which overall prevents him from being qualified as a good leader. In not having humility, it causes Odysseus to often lose focus. During the episode, “The Cyclops,” Odysseus and his men escape the island in which Polyphemus, the cyclops, was keeping them held captive, rather than thinking of his men and immediately leaving, Odysseus takes the time to gloat and risks their safety. (Cyclops. 502-505). An often occurrence of The Odyssey, is Odysseus’s ability to be humble and in being with out this attribute, constantly put his men in danger, lowering his quality of leadership.

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?