Conforming To The Majority Crowd In Homer's Odyssey

In Homer’s the Odyssey, Odysseus allows his own desire for personal glory and fame to cloud his judgement as a leader and places his men in danger. Odysseus is an epic hero, however he still makes both wise and poor decisions throughout the poem. The men who follow along on Odysseus’s journey are aware of the factor of human nature, that Odysseus may not always make the right decision. Although they know of this possibility, the men still choose to follow him. The reason for this being that most people blindly follow others because it is in human nature to trust. We have faith that those we follow are leading us to a safe place, although most of the time we only follow with the majority crowd. We have no way of knowing that we aren't being blindly led to a dangerous situation, yet continue alongside the other clueless followers. Perhaps being part of a group lures individuals into a false sense of security.

Followers would never progress on their journeys if leaders didn't motivate them to go places they might not otherwise go. Organizations take on the personality of their leaders, and followers must be confident that the leader of the organization can be trusted with the outcome of the journey. The leader must be able to attract followers. New leaders can successfully persuade others to trust them, and will evidence other certain behaviors. They themselves will be skilled at trusting, because trusting and trustworthiness enhance each other. Not only can we benefit from trusting others, but we can avoid the cost of distrust. Not trusting others is an isolating action, and will add to stress in terms of the personal worry and anxiety about what the other people might achieve without