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Odysseus Leadership Essay

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“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

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