Odysseus Failure Of Leadership In Homer's The Odyssey

Although Odysseus is one of the most well known greek heros in the world, he is also very controversial among the people as well. In the book, “The Odyssey” written by Homer, Odysseus made some choices that makes the readers question his role as a leader. In “The Odyssey”, it tells the story about Odysseus’ long journey home from the Trojan War. Along the way, Odyssey has extended his times away from home by making unintelligent decisions that led him to encounter one disaster after another. Although Odysseus has some positive attributes, he is a poor leader for the following reasons: he is too cocky and overconfident, he make careless decision, and finally, he is very selfish.

There was no doubt that Odysseus was an arrogant man. You can find this in

Throughout the entire book Odysseus shows that he as an amazing leader. “ Nine whole days we sailed, nine nights, nonstop”- Odysseus, (P. 231, L. 32.) Odysseus leads his crew to new lands always getting

Odysseus should not be considered a good leader because he is giving his crew false hope. As the crew sails nears Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus remembers Circe’s advice, “Circe has advised Odysseus to sail toward Scylla’s crag, for

Although Odysseus is the captain of his men on the ship, he is a bad leader in the story. “ ‘I say, Cyclops! He didn’t turn out to be such a milksop after all, did he, when you murdered his friends and gobbled them up in your cave? Your sins were sure to find you out, you cruel brute!” (117) Odysseus is very boastful when he has victory over his opponents. He outsmarts Polyphemus, and then mocks him after escaping the cave. This shows that Odysseus is not setting a good example for his crew of men. “ But I was determined not to listen, and shouted again in my fury: ‘I say Cyclops! if ever any one asks

When someone says the word leader, the first thought is someone who is considerate of others, smart, and has good communication. In Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus is an epic hero who goes on a journey in order to get back home, but doing so proves he is not a great leader. Although Odysseus may have gotten himself home, he got none of his men home, which shows he is a horrible leader. Odysseus is a terrible leader because he gets all of his men killed on his trip back home, he exposes himself and his men to the Cyclops, which puts him and his men in danger, and he has horrible communication which causes his ship to get farther from home. Since Odysseus does all of this, it proves he is a horrific leader. Odysseus thinks of himself

Odysseus shows the characteristics of a good leader by being brave and sacrificing his life for his crew and the way to get home to his family. ''Under strange sail shall you come home, to find your own house filled with trouble: insolent men eating your livestock as they court your lady.'' This quote shows how Odysseus will stop at nothing to find his way home, He legitimately traveled through the underworld a very petrifying place to find his way home and he also had to deal with his dead crewmate and cried. This shows that he will stop at nothing to get home which is something that inspires your crew which is a very crucial part of being a leader.

Throughout the time being on this island full of cyclops, Odysseus has showed his ability to think of a well put together plan. The next way Odysseus shows he is a great leader was how quick he was to react to a situation. In book X, lines 137-146 Odysseus shows his skill of reacting quickly when they were on the island and they started getting slaughtered but Odysseus got his men out of there. There was much chaos and commotion but Odysseus figured out what he needed to do to get his men out of there quickly and still alive. He even made a quick decision to cut the rope to his own ship leaving some men behind but this in the end saved more men rather than if they had stayed trying to fight back. Also in book X, lines 287-290 Odysseus shows his skills when one of his men come running back after the other men got turned to pigs by the girl. Right as Odysseus heard of this he grabbed his bow and was about to head out. Instead of Odysseus leaving those men there and sailing away he tries to go fight

This Story of a reckless leader was told long ago never written until now, Odysseus’ journey was spoken by a blind poet named Homer. The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is a bad leader for many reasons.The first reason is Odysseus pride proves he does not put his men first.

“Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint.”-(Lewis H. Lapham). In the epic of the Odyssey, the main character Odysseus has many traits. Odysseus’ traits show the true characteristics in the story by seeing his character act under pressure and overcome it. Odysseus is a war hero, but after the war he will encounter challenges. He is an intelligent leader who is determined to end his epic journey and get home to his son and wife.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”-John C. Maxwell. In society today, it is hard to find a unanimously good leader. The perception of what a good leader is ranges from country to country and culture to culture. In Greek culture, the idea of a sound leader is someone with super-human powers or someone who could successfully lead their armies to victory. Odysseus, a character from Homer's The Odyssey, is one example of a person who was considered a strong leader in Ancient Greece, but in our culture today, Odysseus should not be considered a fine leader. He is none of the things that John C. Maxwell mentions, in fact, he gets his men lost at sea for ten years and at the end Odysseus is the only one to make

Odysseus demonstrates mean a good leader by being very clever shown in the following quotes. “In the leas Odysseus hit himself well over him Athena showered him with sleep. “ this is important because this shows that Athena cares for Odysseus so that means she will be looking out for him.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus is an amazing leader. However, he wasn’t always a prodigious leader. He had to spend 20 years at sea and in unexplored lands. Because of his actions, he stirred up anger in Poseidon and in return, Poseidon cursed Odysseus and all that assist him. Though Odysseus is now a great leader, he wasn’t always the best he could be.

Upon reaching his ship outside the cave, Odysseus arrogantly yells back his real name to the Cyclops who happens to be son of Poseidon, god of the sea. Odysseus’ taunting and desire for Polyphemus to know who truly tricked him greatly angers Polyphemus and causes trouble from Poseidon later on. While escaping, Odysseus yells, “if ever a mortal man inquire/ how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him / Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye.” (Homer 417-419) Odysseus should have rowed away as quickly as possible before any more trouble was roused. He would have been better off to not have given in to the fatal characteristic of hubris, but to have simply been satisfied by his own dignity. Using leadership qualities such as humility and humbleness would have saved him many seafaring troubles due to Poseidon wrath such as stranding him on Calypso’s island for 7 years. If Odysseus had not been prideful, his journey home would have been much shorter and he wouldn’t have eventually lost all of his

A great question to ask is what does it take to display good leadership. What is a good leader dependant on? Size? Strength? A good leader mostly depends on attitude and determination. A good leader can come in any shape or size, but it depends on the determination and the level of courage. Odysseus did not show leadership in The Odyssey.