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Odysseus As A Good Leader In The Odyssey By Homer

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In the epic the The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is bad leader because his selfishness leads to bad outcomes and he does not communicate with his men properly. One of the reasons Odysseus is an unfit leader is because he puts himself above others. When Odysseus and his men go to the island of the Cyclopes, they discover a cave that Odysseus wants to explore. His men try and convince him to leave, but to this he ignores their pleas and says “Yet I refused. I wished to see the cave man, what he had to offer- no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends” (155-157). A good leader would have taken his men’s concerns into consideration. Odysseus is quick to decide that they should stay even if it meant potential danger. His quick and impractical decision eventually led to death among his men. This shows that he prioritizes himself over his men and is clearly selfish, a quality good leaders should not have. Another part of the adventure where this is portrayed is when Odysseus and his men are on Circe’s island. When they land on the island his men are held captive and are turned into animals. This is Odysseus’s response to the situation.“After Circe releases his men from the spell, Odysseus spends a year with her” (pg 506). In this situation, …show more content…

He is not thinking of his men who have homes and families to get back to. A good leader will make decisions based on

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However, in the Odyssey, Odysseus makes choices that both his crew and the reader find questionable. Although Odysseus has some positive attributes he is a bad leader for the following reasons he keeps secrets from his crew, he falls asleep at inappropriate times and is arrogant to a fault. Odysseus’s

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Odysseus displays strong leadership when his men abide by his direction. Odysseus also cares for his men when he does not tell them about Scylla and Charybdis for their own good. “‘Now I say by hook or crook this peril too shall be something that we remember. Heads up, lads! We must obey the orders as I give them’”

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In the novel The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus is portrayed as a bad leader because of his selfish decisions and bad character. Odysseus makes a selfish decision when he leads his crew to stay in Polyphemus’s cave thinking he would offer gifts and Odysseus would “accept (his) help, or any gifts/” he had to “give” (9.726-727). This is a selfish act because he is putting his crew in danger for something that would only benefit himself. In the end, many of his people died and no one benefited. Once again, Odysseus displayed selfish acts when Circe told him “ he will be the only survivor of their long journey” (Homer 764).

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Odysseus in the book The Odyssey by Homer is a bad leader due to the lack of attentiveness he shows towards his teammates in many different ways. For example, Odysseus’s goal was to get him and all of his teammates home but by the time he got home all of his teammates had died. Odysseus also failed to communicate with his teammates many times. As well as the fact that Odysseus was also very easy to convince and that led to a lot of lost time in their journey.

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Webster Dictionary defines leadership as simply, “providing direction or guidance,” but to be a successful leader one must focus on completing a goal in a way that is beneficial for the majority, not only the one in charge. This can be achieved by utilitarianism, which is doing of what is best for the most number of people, and carrying out actions that lead to positive effects, instead of merely being done with good intentions. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is not an exemplary leader because he went against utilitarianism by not being honest with his men, letting his arrogance control his behavior, and by killing many people in his house without a fair trial. Firstly, a leader must be truthful with those he works with in order for no errors or confusion to occur as a result of information being hidden. In The Odyssey, not being truthful lead to negative consequences for everyone on Odysseus’ ship, and thus contradicted the principle of utilitarianism stating that actions must lead to positive effects.

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In Odyssey, Odysseus fails to be a great leader because of his selfishness and how he endangers his men. Odysseus is selfish because he doesn't care about anyone else. For example, when Odysseus stays with Circe, he gets to stay in a massive palace while his men sleep outside. Another example is that he is careless

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In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus repeatedly shows that he is polytropos, for as Zeus says “There is no mortal half so wise”(3). Using his wits, Odysseus gets him and his men out of several sticky situations in the Odyssey, proving his leadership through his actions that save the lives of his crew member. On the other hand Odysseus’ streak of constantly outsmarting challenges, goes to his head, and unfortunately causes Odysseus to develop a hubris. His pride at times makes him arrogant, believing that he always knows best, which leads to the untimely demise of his crew. While Odysseus proves to be good leader by saving his crew from trouble with his wits, he is ultimately a bad leader because he refuses to listen to advice.

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However, examples within the literary narrative of the Odyssey leaves the discussion open with regards to his leadership. Thus, the question of leadership supersedes the topic of Arete. Was Odysseus the ideal leader or did he portray undesirable leadership tendencies? The examples that will presented will illustrate that Odysseus hubris, risk taking prowess, and at times unwillingness to follow instructions often placed his crew in danger as he journeyed Ithaca.

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During these situations, Odysseus gains leadership and tactical skills from fighting in the war in Troy, which costs him 10 years of his life and another 10 years of sailing out on the sea from Poseidon 's curse. Odysseus is therefore a heroic and efficient leader because he plans his moves ahead of time and is vigilant at all times to ensure his safety. Yet, though Odysseus possesses these heroic leadership qualities, his arrogance sometimes leads to his downfall and inability to lead. While Odysseus is a little arrogant, he can also be a great leader because he is able to trust his second in command, Eurylochus, and give him more power while he is away. When Odysseus is away from Circe’s island, Odysseus has a change of heart and suddenly wants to go back to Circe’s island to retrieve his crew.

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Ultimately Odysseus can be a good leader but behind the scenes, he's not. He may of saved his men multiple times, but also got them killed them due to his neglect. He might be intelligent but really he tolerably manipulated his crew by saying things such as “don’t you want to go back to your home again?”. In closing, throughout the whole story, Odysseus progresses himself and designates many Greek

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Odysseus used bravery, cleverness, and determination to be a good leader and get his men through all these dangerous obstacles. Odysseus is a good leader as seen through his bravery, cleverness, and determination. Odysseus demonstrates good leadership through his use of bravery.

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This also shows that he is inconsiderate because if someone is a good leader, they usually listen to other inputs and act according to that, but Odysseus was headstrong and wanted to continue the taunting. The next time that Odysseus shows that he is inconsiderate is their stay at Circe’s land. The crew members have families at home which they want to see once again, but Odysseus is reluctant to

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Throughout the story “The Odyssey” by Homer Odysseus, the main character counters countless amounts of trouble. As king and leader it is his job to keep his men save and get the job done. Odysseus does whatever it takes to keep his men unharmed, and more importantly, alive. All his crew and him dream about is getting back to their homeland, but first they have to pass the obstacles. Odysseus demonstrates good leadership qualities by doing whatever it takes to get the job done, using his advanced cunning abilities to trick his enemy, and constantly saving his crew from dangers.

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