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Why Is Odysseus A Bad Leader

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Would you ever trust your leader if he keeps angering the same powerful gods over and over again? In the story The Odyssey the main character Odysseus, is a bad leader because he likes to blame other people for his own mistakes, he is cocky, and he does not learn from his mistakes

The first reason why Odysseus is a bad leader is because he blames other people for his mistakes. For example in the text, it says “O’ Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever, you made me sleep away this day of mischief!”(686) This quotation shows that Odysseus is a scapegoater. This makes him a bad leader because he doesn’t admit when he’s wrong and tries to blame it on other people even though its his falt, and by doing that he keeps angering the gods and gets himself and his crew in trouble because the gods keep on destroying his ships …show more content…

In the text, it says “If ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca!”(669). This quotation shows that Odysseus is cocky. This makes him a bad leader because by revealing his identity and his hom of him and his crews’ home, he gave Polyphemus enough information to be able to pray to his father Poseidon to never let Odysseus reach his home Ithaca and also for him to lose all of his companions. So by revealing all of this info, he has cursed his crew and himself and put all of them in

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285 Words | 2 Pages

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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956 Words | 4 Pages

As a leader Odysseus should be careful to do exactly what will benefit his crew the most. The lack of communication throughout the whole journey home will eventually lead to mistrust and betrayal of Odysseus by his crew. Following Scylla and Charybdis they reach the island of the god of the sun, and because of the crew’s spite for Odysseus they don’t follow his directions not to harm the cattle of the Sun. Just in the events of the journey back to Ithaca alone the reader can see how Odysseus’ inability to be a strong leader leads to the dismantling of a good relationship between him and his crew, which leads to a much more difficult trip. Odysseus’ inability to be a great leader for the group leads to a lot of conflict among the crew members.

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583 Words | 3 Pages

Odysseus didn’t have enough respect for his crew. Odysseus’ men were taking him across the ocean so that he could get home and weren’t getting compensated for it. Odysseus showed bad leadership when he left his men alone so he could sleep and while he was sleeping they opened a bag of wind and they were blown in the opposite direction of where they were headed. Odysseus showed very little care when six of his men were killed by Scylla, he almost ignored it and just continued his

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290 Words | 2 Pages

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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540 Words | 3 Pages

Although Odysseus made some mistakes overall he was a great leader. Besides that he did have quite an adventure. Odysseus was a great leader when he showed bravery when saving his men from the cyclops, when he showed loyalty when saving his men from Circe, and also when he showed leadership when going to the Underworld. The first challenge Odysseus came across was Polyphemus, the cyclops.

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765 Words | 4 Pages

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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769 Words | 4 Pages

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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678 Words | 3 Pages

That ended up getting some of Odysseus' men killed. As they escaped, however, Odysseus taunt Polyphemus and revealed himself. The Cyclops prayed to his father Poseidon, asking him to curse Odysseus to wander for ten years. A good leader would think about others and not only himself.

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489 Words | 2 Pages

Was Odysseus a good leader? Odysseus is known as a great leader who was able to solve any problem in the story, but in reality, he was a terrible leader. He put his men in danger and only cared for things that benefited him. Odysseus shouldn’t be considered a hero because of how much he puts his men in trouble and how selfish he is. He sacrifices his men so he can get home and become king again, which shows how selfish he can be.

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749 Words | 3 Pages

Odysseus is a bad leader since he is a murderer. When Odysseus and his men landed in Ismarus, “[He] stormed that place and killed the men who fought(Homer 28). Because of this, we can see Odysseus kills people for fun, which is a very bad quality. As well, Odysseus is greedy and does things even if they could put him and his men in danger. After successfully escaping, Odysseus taunts the Cyclops, “O Cyclops!

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571 Words | 3 Pages

Therefore Odysseus is a bad leader since he refuse to take advice, which consequently results in the detriment of his

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865 Words | 4 Pages

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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508 Words | 3 Pages

Dwight Eisenhower once said, "The supreme quality of leadership is integrity." Odysseus displayed a lack of integrity and poor leadership by not fully communicating all the facts of the situation

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811 Words | 4 Pages

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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620 Words | 3 Pages

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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