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Odysseus Qualities Of An Effective Leader In Homer's Odyssey

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Most people are leaders at some point in their life but, not all people are great leaders. Odyssues, the king of Ithica in the poem, The Odyssey, is one of those people. The Odyssey, arguably the most famous epic poem of all time, is believed to be written by Homer in 700 BC. Odysseus has many positive attributes but lacks the qualities needed to be a efficective leader. Odysseus is temparmental and it impairs his ability to be a successful leader. For example, Odysueuss states “I began to taunt the Cyclops-men around trying to check me, calm me, …‘so headstrong,…why rile the beast again’”(Homer 9.92-94). No good leader would endanger his men because he couldn’t control his temper. A leader should always have a level-head and be sensible
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In the Odyssey “the Sirens” by Homer, Odysseus demonstrates his leadership skills and by devising a plan to hear the Sirens song without being tricked to stay on the island because he wants to keep himself and his men safe. Odysseus says to his men, “Dear friends, more than one man or two, should know those things Circe foresaw for us and shared with me, so let me tell her forecast”(975). Instead of withholding the information from his men, Odysseus tells them their fate. This shows Odysseus, as a leader, decided to tell his men what was going on at this time because he felt he trusted his men to follow the plan and help him. At other times in the story, Odysseus withholds information from his men as another tactic to essentially help them

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