Odysseus As A Good Leader In Homer's Odyssey

Everyone wants to be a great leader, to be a role model for their peers, and to have people look up to them. But what does it take to become that person? Everyone must learn these lessons somehow. In The Odyssey, Homer takes the reader through the protagonist Odysseus’ expedition as he makes his way home after fighting in the Trojan War. He encounters numerous experiences that attempt to teach him how to be a competent leader, including blinding a Cyclops, escaping a six-headed monster, and running from the wrath of Poseidon. On Odysseus’ journey home, Homer depicts him as most needing to learn how to resist temptation, collaborate with his crew, and respect the gods in order to return home to Ithaca and become a good leader.

Learning to resist

During the Cyclops episode, Odysseus’ crew begged him to just take some cheese and lambs and leave, but Odysseus “hoped to see [Polyphemus], and find out if he would give [them] gifts” (9.228-229). If Odysseus had pushed aside his greed for more riches, then he would have completed his journey with extra food and all his men. However, Odysseus persists and ends up with fewer of both. This situation was set up to attempt to teach Odysseus that it will end poorly when he gives in to his temptations. Being a respectable leader is dependent on resisting temptations because when leaders give in to their desires, it puts others in danger, which Odysseus did when he forced his men to follow him to see the Cyclops. His actions also caused harm to the Cyclops, Polyphemus, who was blinded by their encounter, all because Odysseus wanted some cheese. The Cyclops’ cave acted like a mouse trap for Odysseus, luring him in with his desires and trapping him with a giant monster. One might think that

He is given countless situations in which collaboration and teamwork would have saved him from disaster, but instead, he works alone. During the bag of winds episode, Odysseus is gifted a bag of wind that will assist the boat in returning to Ithaca. Unfortunately, Odysseus does not communicate to his crew what is in the bag, so they think that it contains silver and gold, which Odysseus is keeping for himself. The sailors “opened up the bag and all the winds rushed out at once” (10.47-48). After releasing the winds, the ships are blown away from Ithaca. If Odysseus would have alerted his crew of what was in the bag, they would have refrained from opening it and returned safely home. This episode highlights Odysseus’ need to do everything alone and receive all the glory, although it is meant to teach him to abandon this trait and work with his companions. Collaboration is vital for leaders because, as much as Odysseus believes he can, no leader can do everything alone. Working and relying on others is the only way to achieve everything. Odysseus endures a similar situation on the Island of the Sun God, where he fails to communicate with his crew. As previously mentioned, the sailors are not supposed to eat the cows on the island. However, Odysseus only tells them “let us not touch the cattle or we will regret it”, instead of telling them why they are not allowed to (12.320-321). If he had just told