Examples Of Leadership In Beowulf

In the epic poem of Beowulf, many leadership skills and attributes are demonstrated. Beowulf, as the leader of his band of warriors, makes the evidence of excellent leadership skills clear. He sets an example for his band by being a protector of his people in which, he came to them in a time of need (McArthur). He also upholds the standards of truth and justice by taking the life of Grendel (McArthur). Beowulf also leads his band by having an inspirational vision through his behavior and actions (Loughman). His confidence in his abilities is another factor that plays into his role as a leader (Loughman).

The first characteristic that Beowulf brings forth is strength. The strength of no other man nor monster is brought forth by beowulf “The victory for the proof hanging high from the rafters where beowulf had hung it was the monster's arm claw shoulder and all” (Ln 515-517). Beowulf was the saving grace for the people of Herot. That is only one of the few acts of strength that Beowulf portrays. Beowulf also killed 5 monsters “I drove five great giants into chains, chased all of that race from the earth” (Ln

Real hero knows how to communicate with people and gain their respect. Great example of true hero in the article, “Beowulf and Teaching of Leadership” by the authors Tom Loughman and John Finley. Beowulf represents a significant example of leadership. Being a hero does not require only physical strength, but it also need smart, humble person who can protect his people from any danger. Beowulf can be descried as perfect model of leadership. He had very strong personality physical appearance but he was humble with his people. His technic allows him to gain people’s respect. I realized after reading Beowulf story that not anyone can be a leader. There are too many requirements to be successful leader, which it appears in Beowulf personality. Beowulf teaches us important lesson about leadership, his character illustrates that strong leader must be fearless, wise, has strong confident personality and humble to get people’s love.

Beowulf demonstrates characteristics of a king because he is fearless. He isn’t just strong and dreamy like the average king we see on television, he is extremely courageous. For example, Beowulf traveled the sea to ask Hrothgar permission to battle Grendel. After his victory with Grendel, Grendel’s mother seeks revenge for her son so she targets one of Hrothgar’s closest friends. Hrothgar asks Beowulf to kill Grendel’s mother. Beowulf

More in depth, there were prominent characteristics that made Beowulf who he was. Overall, his greatest strength that he had was his bravery. He was one of the bravest soldiers that has lived. First of all, I always

Beowulf showed his confidence by defeating the monster unassisted by his 14 warriors. Leadership is not a skill that everyone has the ability to learn. Few people are natural born leaders, some learn along their journey of life. Beowulf is a strong willed, courageous warrior, who has many characteristics of a leader. Many have believed Beowulf to be a leader, many followed him as so. However, In this modern day, beowulf would be an unsuccessful Business leader.

In the era of my rule, a king was not someone who simply delivered orders to his “men” while he sat on his throne awaiting confirmation of a victory. Men admired their leader for: outstanding courage, selflessness to his tribe, personal valor, and ability to survive despite the toughest opposition. Heroism and leadership are characteristics that brought my fellow men to abide by my side despite the situation, which in response led me to become such an aspiring leader, and in the end a hero – the demonstration to attain glory through brawls. Traditions, natural laws, and religion are descriptions of my heroism and leadership.

The translator of this epic is Burton Raffel. “Beowulf” is the title of this story. The main characters consist of Beowulf, a mighty warrior, Grendel, a vicious monster, Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, and the Geats, the mighty group of men that were with Beowulf. In this epic there was a king (Hrothgar) who was depressed because his people were being killed by a monster (Grendel). Then comes along the great Beowulf and his Geats to destroy the known Grendel.

The journal “Beowulf and the Teaching of Leadership” by Tom Loughman and John Finley, explore the ideas and examples of leadership while simultaneously connecting Beowulf to that characteristic. The authors talk about Beowulf in an admirable way, connecting current stories and films to help the readers relate to their traits of a leader (pg. 161). Even though Beowulf can be seen as portraying more than a few vices, the authors go into the depths of Beowulf and his mannerisms to defend their argument (pg. 159-160). This journal even gives insight on the opposing side’s potential opinion of Beowulf to give the reader other opinions on the poem. Tom Loughman and John Finley gave a well-organized and intelligent view on Beowulf’s characteristics

In the case of beowulf it is mentioned that he is a good example of the heroic ideal that in several important ways fit well with the Conger-Kanungo charismatic leader model ( Loghman and Finley p. 159). This meaning that the authors think that beowulf is a perfect example of a charismatic leaders and he fits the criteria of one too. Beowulf is absolutely fearless and confident in his own abilities (p. 159). Which is a quality that is held by a charismatic leader. The boast that he makes before the battle with grendel signal a public, inspirational articulation of confidence in his own and companions abilities to overcome adversity in the form of the monster. This means that these are one of the qualities that beowulf has that makes him a charismatic leader. Charismatic leaders differ from other leaders by their ability to formulate and articulate an inspiration vision and by behaviors and actions that foster an impression that they and their mission are extraordinary (p. 159). This proves that the authors believe that beowulf matches the description of a charismatic leader which makes him

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” – Alexander the Great. This quote shows the importance of leaders. If a person has a right set of mind that person can be the “trait of a lion.” When a person strives for a goal and is passion about it is seen as he is taking leadership over a group of people or even taking leadership in his own life. What I mean by the second option is that a person can either let someone else decide how their life will be played out, or they can do what they choose. The theme of leadership can be shown on Beowulf’s acceptance of the challenge to take on Grendel, in the Knight accepting the punishment of the Queen in Canterbury Tales, and in Macbeth in Macbeth.

The qualities of a great leader are widely discussed among people with many different views. Is a leader strong and emotional? Should a leader be calculating and cold? These are all dependant on someone’s thoughts about what are good leadership skills. In the story of Beowulf, the hero contains qualities that could lead him to being a great ruler according to the people he is with.

After reading this comparison by Tom Loughman and John Finley in Beowulf and the teaching of Leadership, I could see what points they were trying to create when they compared leadership and Beowulf. To inform you what this excerpt is about, is basically the authors annotating and sighting evidence as to how there is leadership in the mystical story of Beowulf. They go through each episode or chapter and give a brief description of what happened during this part of the story, the authors also state how Beowulf has the features of a charismatic hero. The best comparison they made here was with Conger and Kanungo’s, stating how this created the standard of what charismatic leadership is and then after this they go right into how Beowulf compares to this, this formula worked perfectly. Now what I liked about this was how much of a description they provided, for example they talked about the hysterical background of what the story Beowulf resonates from and how people created these myths and fairytales that to make people follow loyalty. I do agree with how leadership does play a huge role in the story of Beowulf and is sort of a minor theme, the weakness of this is that they do go into too much details about the story that doesn’t relate to their topic of leadership. Overall, I feel they did a great job of getting there point across on how Beowulf reflects heavily on leadership without the audience really knowing it did.

Beowulf was a member of Anglo Saxon society who eventually fulfilled the ideal king position. His ideal kingship was apparent by his excellent fighting skills as a warrior, his perseverance, leadership, loyalty, and generosity.

The epic poem of Beowulf, whose author remains unknown, was written around 700 A.D. in England and focused primarily on the Danes and Geats in 500 A.D. Beowulf is about the Geat warrior, Beowulf, who is known for his strength and rigor. With this strength, he led battles to rid his people and the Danes of evil and these key battles helped in establishing Beowulf as a worthy leader. This epic poem, along with placing a great focus on the self-titled Geat warrior, tells of other leaders of that time and how they shaped Beowulf into the leader he eventually becomes by the end of the story. The behavior and reactions of the various leaders in Beowulf relate to their corresponding action logics of leadership, which is found in the article, “The Seven Transformations of Leadership,” written by David Rooke and William R. Tobert, analyzes different groups of leaders. Action logics illustrated in this article are forms of leadership that come from everyday leaders, and also analyze how one uses their skills to achieve goals and lead subordinates. From this article one can relate these following action logics to the corresponding leaders in Beowulf: Heremod, Hrothgar, Siegmund, and Beowulf.