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Examples Of Odysseus Leadership

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The traits of leadership are not evident in Odysseus during much of his journey home to Ithaca. However, during his journey, Odysseus becomes better at leading his crewmates and making choices that would hurry their journey home instead of delay it. Soon after Odysseus’s crewmates convince him to leave Circe and resume their journey home, they face an obstacle in Scylla and Charybdis. During this terrifying episode, Odysseus displays his leadership in a prominent way by taking control of the situation and saying “So now let us all agree to do exactly what I say. Oarsmen, stay at your oars, striking hard with your blades through the deep swell, in the hope that Zeus allows us to escape disaster and come out of this alive. Helmsman, your orders …show more content…

Give a wide berth to that foaming surf, and hug these cliffs, or before you can stop her the ship may take us over there and we’ll be wrecked” (12.212-222). In the face of catastrophe, while facing Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus takes responsibility and thinks with a clear mind. This allows his men to minimize their losses by facing Scylla and Charybdis. The leadership shown by Odysseus is especially well displayed when he is faced with a life-threatening conflict. Similarly, when Telemachus is faced with the conflict of expelling the Suitors from his household, he begins to display the beginnings of leadership in taking control of the Suitors. After deciding that he must take action against the Suitors, “He at once gave orders to the clear-voiced criers to call the long-haired Achaeans to Assembly. The heralds cried their summons and the people quickly gathered.” (2.6-8). When faced with the task of restoring order to Ithaca by himself, Telemachus displays his newfound leadership by calling all of the Achaeans to an assembly. This action shows that Telemachus is taking action to accomplish his goal, which is to rid his father’s palace of the arrogant

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