Is Odysseus a Good Leader free essay sample

Odysseus was a man who was known for both his good and bad leadership qualities. Homer, the blind poet and the author of ‘the Odysseus’ has portrayed Odysseus as an ambiguous character. However, in my opinion and in this argument Odysseus have more good leadership qualities than bad leadership qualities. Throughout this epic, readers can see that Odysseus made many leadership decisions and took actions when it should be made. He was intelligent, fair and fearless. Many incidents in Homer’s epic, points out his intelligence, fairness and fearlessness throughout their journey. Throughout Odysseus ‘journey to his home in Ithaca, he has faced many hardships and troubles which resulted in the death of his men and the crew but he tried all that he can to protect and save his reckless men. He was very intelligent, that he took actions and made decisions suddenly which will benefit the whole crew. As Homer States, â€Å"You will not let us sleep. We will write a custom essay sample on Is Odysseus a Good Leader? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"Sure no man’s driving off your flock? No man has tricked you, ruined you? Out of the cave the mammoth Polyphemus roared in answer: ‘Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me. Nohbdy’s ruined me! While they got trapped inside at the Cyclops cave, Odysseus introduces himself as ‘Nohbdy’ so when Cyclops screams, he would say ‘nobody’ hurt him. Odysseus made the Cyclops blind in order to stop him from eating all of his men which shows his intelligence and good leadership. Odysseus was fair that he made decisions to show the support to all his men regardless how strong they were. Being fair is one of the most important leadership qualities because if a leader is not fair, his followers will underestimate themselves thinking that they are no good to the group and this can cause bigger problems. To avoid that Odysseus tossed a coin to pick the men to go up to Cyclops and blind him with a spear. As Homer states, â€Å"now came the time to toss for it: who ventured along with me? Whose hand could bear to thrust and grind that spike in Cyclops’ eye, when mild sleep had mastered him? † This incident from Cyclops cave shows his fairness to his men and proves his good leadership. Odysseus was fearless throughout the journey to his home in Ithaca. All incidents happened in the journey points out he was willing to take risk for the safe and betterment of his crew. He took Circe’s advice and went to the land of the dead to gain wisdom and knowledge and land of the dead is where people who are easily scared would not go because Hades, God of the death ruled over the land of the dead. He met the blind prophet Tiresias at the land of the dead where he prophesized destruction amongst his ship and Odysseus refused to tell it to his men to not discourage his men. He also didn’t tell them about Circe’s prediction that he will be the only survivor. As it states, â€Å"Odysseus does not tell his men of Circe’s last prophecy—that he will be the only survivor of their long journey. In conclusion, Odysseus was a good leader and he was able to prove his leadership qualities. Odysseus had what it takes to be a good leader because he was intelligent, fair and fearless and he supported and did not do anything that would blemish his men’s courage. He took risk and find solutions to all the problems they faced. He was emotionally strong and made his crew strong. He tried all that he can to protect his men and not to lose his men. While they were at Circe’s island and Cyclops cave and all through their journey he proved his good leader ship qualities. References: Donlan, Walter. Political reciprocity in Dark Age Greece: Odysseus and his hetairoi. Reciprocity in ancient Greece (1998): 51-71. Donlan, Walter. The tradition of anti-aristocratic thought in early Greek poetry. Historia: Zeitschrift fà ¼r Alte Geschichte H. 2 (1973): 145-154. Sarachek, Bernard. Greek concepts of leadership. Academy of management journal 11.1 (1968): 39-48. Shay, Jonathan. Moral injury. Intertexts 16.1 (2012): 57-66. POLK, GAIL CECELIA. VERGILS PENELOPE: THE DIANA SIMILE IN AENEID 1. 498-502. Vergilius (1959-) (1996): 38-49. Donlan, Walter. Homers Agamemnon. The Classical World 65.4 (1971): 109-115.