Odysseus As A Leader In Homer's Epic Poem, The Odyssey

Leadership is when strong leaders show a group of people a clear vision of the right path to go. A leader has important qualities that make them a strong independent person. A leader tends to be open minded when it comes to listening to others ideas to help solve hard times. Being a leader does not mean someone is bossing others around and controlling everything they do. It means they offer help to others and know how to to take charge when the time is needed. In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus is an effective leader because he knows how to be adaptive to challenges he faces in life and also caring for other in his crew.
Odysseus is a strong leader because after losing his strongest men and his ship which was the only way home, Odysseus never gives up on wanting to get him and

his men back home to Ithaca. Recently Odysseus had the option to pick between two dangerous of monsters on his way back home to his family. Scylla is monstrous sea goddess with six arms and heads, if Odysseus passes her on his way home she will eat six of his men. Charybdis is also a seas goddess who has control of a powerful whirlpool which could destroy Odysseus’ ship on his journey home. Odysseus has to learn how to pick between two hard choices and deal with the consequences of the choice: “... Scylla snatched six men from our hollow ship,/ the toughest, strongest hands I had…” (Homer XII 264-265). Odysseus the captain of the ship picks to go the path of Scylla over the path of Charybdis. Odysseus learns how to adapt with the challenges of having six less men rowing the boat back to Ithaca. The crew members cause an issue which leads the ship to Charybdis’ whirlpool and destroys the ship. Never once Odysseus gave up about going back home or letting his sad emotions get the best of him. Odysseus’ adaptive attitude helps him face hard challenges which show he is a strong leader because he does not give up easily.
Odysseus shows strong leadership because he cares for his crew members before he thinks about himself.

A true leader should offer help to others before they think about doing something for themselves. Circe is a nymph who lives on the island of Aeaea who has tricked some of Odysseus’ crew members into drink a special wine that turns them into animals. One crew member that is loyal to Odysseus, Eurylochus, knows about the trap Circe has for the men then goes back to Odysseus to tell him what has happened. Odysseus wants to go save his crew members to make sure everyone is alright: “But I shot back, ‘Eurylochus, stay right here,/ eating drinking, safe by the black ship./ I must be off. Necessity drives me on’” (Homer X 299-301). Odysseus takes responsibility for the troubles that has happened to his men and goes out to save them. Before Odysseus goes out to save his men, he makes sure Eurylochus is okay and has something to eat. The crew is low on food due to recent problems they have faced, but Odysseus managed to feed the men that are loyal to die. Odysseus shows how he is a strong leader because he rather give up his necessities to his crew to make sure they are

alright.
Odysseus shows great leadership because he never gave up wanting to get his crew home after fighting two sea goddesses and giving up necessities for others. Odysseus shows his crew a clear vision of the right path to go by telling the men what is best for them to do. When the crew listens to Odysseus’ ideas about which path is right to go it keeps the whole ship out of turmoil. To be a strong leader a person must a powerful attitude that encourages other to do the right thing without being bossy.