“Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine.” -Chris Hadfield Being a leader consists of honesty, integrity and respect, yet Odysseus struggles to show these skills. There are many examples to prove that Odysseus is not an effective leader. Even though Odysseus returns to Ithaca, he showed poor leadership skills on his journey. Odysseus is not an strong leader because he is secretive with his men, he is very careless, and he is very gullible. Odysseus is not a superior leader because he is secretive with his crew members. For example, he did not inform his crew about the unfavorable, stormy winds Aeolus gave him. While Odysseus was sleeping …show more content…
The first time he showed this characteristic was in the Lotus Eaters. In this story, he falls for the trick of the lotus flower, this flower made the crew members forget about their home. To prove this, “but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus, never cared to report, nor to return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on their native bloom, forgetful of their homeland” (Homer 9. Line #44-47). He also shows poor leadership skills on The Lotus Eaters’ island when he sends out two men and a runner on the island, he did not lead by doing this. Another time he was foolish was when he got captured in Polyphemus’ cave by the boulder. Homer wrote, “He left his rams and he-goats in the yard outside, and swung high overhead a slad of solid rock to close the cave” (Homer 9. Line #141-144). If Odysseus was more careful he would have realized that The Cyclops trapped his sheep with the boulder. Odysseus is not a successful captain because he is very
Not only was he the things described, but he was also a very boastful man, which isn’t a very good characteristic for a leader like himself. This shows that Odysseus was a good leader at times and he was a bad leader too, which
You will probably show leadership more than once in your life time but there’s good leadership and bad leadership. Which leader ship did Odysseus show? In the book ‘The Odyssey’ written by Geraldine McCaughrean, Odysseus saved his men from monsters and giants on his journey home from the war. Odysseus saved his men risking his life, making the right decision for the best outcome for his men. Though his men weren’t loyal to him he persevered to get them home. This is why Odysseus was a great leader who was concerned only for the welfare of his men.
In the book “The Odyssey” there were many situations where Odysseus might not have been the strongest leader. I think that he was a strong leader overall in many different circumstances. Towards the beginning of the book when he gets to the first island where they stopped for food and supplies. I think he was a good leader cause he went with them but when they had troubles with the others it wasn't his fault that he lost some of his men. He could not control what happened at that island. Towards the middle of the book when he goes to the underworld to find Teiresias. He goes by himself with none of his men all alone. I think that when he did this it made himself look very tough and strong. Towards the end where he goes by Charybdis and scylla
In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is a bad example of a leader. First, Odysseus is not disciplined enough to discipline his crew even if not punishing them will cause them to ignore his orders again. For example, in the Epic of Aeolus, Odysseus asks Aeolus to put all the storms into a bag, “...curious and suspicious the sailors open the bag, thinking it contains treasure… hurricanes blow the ships back to Aeolus.”[Page 673; Line 535] This quote shows his crew not adhering to Odysseus’s orders to not open the bag. After, this happens he does not punish them instead he moves on. This shows him not wanting to control his crew instead let them do what they want. Doing so causes them to be more mutinous and ignorant towards Odysseus in the future. Odysseus does not show good leadership qualities because he himself if not strong enough to get on to his crewmates and tell them what's what.
Odysseus was an effective leader for many reasons. One example was in the story of the siren’s was when he was caring. When he was on the boat he was a good leader because he was leader his crew and he tied himself up to a pole and put beeswax in there. Another way Odysseus was effective was in The Lotus Eater’s story. He was supportive because he tied his crew up to the the boat so the would stop eating the plants because the would lose all hope of going home. A third example would be in the story of the Cyclops. Odysseus was cooperative with his crew because they tricked the cyclops to drink wine then they sharpened a huge spear and poked it into his eye so he couldn't see them when they escaped. In the end, Odysseys was an effective leader
Camila Ventura Ms. Quijano-Diaz English 1 Honor 11 March 2024 Is Odysseus a Good Leader? Over the course of Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey," Odysseus has shown himself to be a capable leader on numerous occasions and a less than ideal one on others. Many now question if Odysseus is indeed a capable leader in light of this. Odysseus is portrayed as a complex character who displays bravery and wisdom. His astute tactics, fearlessness in the face of difficulty, and inventiveness in conquering obstacles frequently portray him as a perceptive leader.
Although, Odysseus has positive traits that contribute to his status as a god hero, he often times display bad traits, but that does not mean he is a bad leader. Odysseus lacked to be a good leader when him and his men were on the way to Ithaca. He failed to tell them what was going on when they arrived and failed to tell them how long they were staying. His men relied on him to prepare them on what was going to happen during their journey. His men expected Odysseus to make decisions for his crew because he was their leader. Odysseus is arrogant and thinks he outsmarts everybody he knows. When Odysseus gets advice from Circe about Scylla, telling Odysseus not to fight with Scylla, Odysseus does not listen. Scylla was inmortal and could not
Odysseus is not is not leader because he didn’t lead his men to victory. “Odysseus alone survives”(Hom.Od.12). In the movie The Odyssey, Odysseus arrives to King Alcinous without any men or ship. Both of these warrants prove Odysseus didn’t lead his men to victory because none of his men survived the journey and as a leader of many people at your service, your main priority is to make sure your men make it out alive. This applies to leaders like Jefferson Davis of the Confederates. He didn’t worry too enough about the safety of his soldiers and that resulted in the demise of 620,000 confederate soldiers.
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
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 Can be a good leader because he gets his crew out of some bad situations, To start off Odysseus got his crew out of the cyclops’s cave. “So, we seized our stake with its fiery tip and bored it round and round in the giant's eye” (9.435). This quote shows how Odysseus use a stick (more like a pole) and stuck it in the fire and when the cyclops fell asleep Odysseus took the stick and jabbed it into the giant's eye and escaped with most of his crew. Another way that Odysseus can be a good leader is that he got his crew out of Circe’s palace, even after she turned all of the crew into pigs. “Flinging open the pens, drove forth my men, who looked like full-grown swine” (10.429). This quote is showing that Circe is letting Odysseus’s crew out of the pen and releasing them, but in exchange Odysseus would have to sleep with Circe and stay
According to The Odyssey, “Within sight of home, and while Odysseus is sleeping, the men open the bag, thinking it contains gold and silver. The bad winds thus escape and blow the ships back to Aeolus’ island. The king refuses to help them again, believing now that their voyage has been cursed by the gods” (Hom. Od. 10). Odysseus is not a good leader because he does not manifest the traits of a good
Odysseus shows leadership by making strategic decisions for his crew and being the King of
“The art of leadership is saying no, and not saying yes”(Tony Blair). In the Odyssey, Odysseus is the captain of a large fleet trying to get back to their home, Ithaca. Odysseus, with his crew, had to go through many obstacles to return to Ithaca. Odysseus was a bad leader because he was selfish, arrogant, and couldn’t control his men.
Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus has shown various qualities of a weak leader. For one, Odysseus taunts Polyphemus unnecessarily. This leads him and his men being “cursed” to never return home or to kill all of Odysseus’s men. This shows Odysseus is a bad leader because he is excessively prideful and egotistical. He often lets those traits make decisions for him, and this causes poor fortune for him and his men. Another example of Odysseus being a bad leader is when he accepts the fate of his men instead of trying to find a loophole that would save them. Along with his crew’s fate, his decision to listen to the sirens was also a foolish decision. There could have been a lot of time saved if his men were not preoccupied with keeping Odysseus