Odysseus Leadership In The Odyssey

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” This quote by Mahatma Gandhi illustrates Odysseus’ leadership in The Odyssey by Homer. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has just finished fighting the Trojan War and is heading home. Along his way, he encounters many things including: the Laestrygonians, Cyclopes, Circe, the Sirens, Calypso, Aeolus, Helios, his worst enemy Poseidon (the god of the seas), and he also runs into Hades. Throughout these challenges, it is evident that Odysseus is not a good leader. The greatest weakness for any leader is pride, something Odysseus has too much of. Odysseus does not make smart decisions; he lacks good communication skills. Overall, Odysseus is a bad leader and he should be criticized as a leader. Odysseus’ greatest weakness is hubris and it greatly affects his leadership capabilities. Pride is regarded as a weakness in a person’s capability. This greatly shows in Odysseus making him a bad leader. This applies greatly to Odysseus, especially since he does not recognize the pride he has. An example of where this applies is when, at Circe's Island, Odysseus insists he must go alone to change his men back into men, instead of bringing other men with him. This is a good

One example of how his lack of communication skills makes him a bad leader is, as seen at the point in The Odyssey where Odysseus and his crew are heading back to Ithaca with Aeolus’ bag, and Odysseus fails to communicate to his men what is in the bag. This leads to his men becoming curious and opening the bag. The action results in the entire ship being blown away, and undoes weeks of their progress. Him not telling his crew what the bag did and how to properly care for the bag, cost him a lot of time. It shows how careless he was, not mention he prevented them from coming home faster. This proves Odysseus does not have good communication skills so he could never be a good