Odysseus Leadership In Homer's Odyssey

Many characters that are titled heroes in epics typically display a large amount of courage and leadership throughout the course of their epic hero trials. During the course of The Odyssey, Odysseus and his men face many life or death trials that leave you to wonder how well of a leader Odysseus actually was. Odysseus’ leadership grows and develops during the course of the novel because his men grew stronger and more understanding of the decisions he made and learned to trust him.

At the beginning and throughout his journey, Odysseus makes many choices that are life threatening and even fatal to his men, which leads you to believe that he does not have very well leadership skills, especially as the epic “hero” he is supposed to be. One of

the worst decisions Odysseus will make through the course of The Odyssey is the trial versus the cyclops when he says “ My comrades urged our quick departure...But I ignored their counsel, though that course would have avoided many griefs for us” (176).

If Odysseus would have listened to his men and left, it would have avoided many unnecessary deaths of his men, and a curse of Poseidon. Not only does a good leader listen to his gut, he also lets the comments and concerns of his men affect his decision and in this case they would have proven to be very helpful. But, his stubborn ego and pridefulness led him to a trial of grief. Not only does this prove that Odysseus doesn’t take the ideas of his men to heart, it also proves that Odysseus is somewhat selfish which is most definitely not a true sign of a good leader. In addition to not listening to his leaders, Odysseus shows a sign of poor communication which ultimately leads to the death of more of his men, and some deep trials of grief. For example, Odysseus claims “Sweet sleep took over me, I was tired:...That’s what they urged, and their disastrous plan prevailed...They opened up the sack, the hurricane was quick to sweep my men away from their own land” (192). In this passage, Odysseus falls asleep, and fails to explain to his men that the bags of “goods”

they have just received are not actually goods but in fact a bag of winds that will sweep Odysseus and his men away from the nine days of sailing they just conquered. This choice that Odysseus makes to let his pride be more important than the safety of his men proves to be yet another terrible choice. Not only does this physically hurt his men and their journey, but it also affects his leadership skills and leads his men to be more untrusting of what he knows and what he will tell them. Odysseus’ lack of communication and need for pride to be more important than his men lead to days upon days worth of hardship for him and his men, which could have all been prevented had he been a better leader. The hardships Odysseus faces that lead to the terrible decisions he makes are definitely signs of someone who does not completely know what being a true leader is like.
Odysseus will face many hardships that prove that his leadership skills just aren’t up to par, but like all epic heroes he is given a chance to change his reputation and his ways, and near the end of the book he takes many opportunities to change his ideas and leadership skills.

Although debated to be one of the worst decisions of The Odyssey, the trial at the sirens proves to have some of Odysseus’ best leadership skills. For example, Odysseus says “But I, with my sharp blade, cut into bits a great round cake of wake.. I sealed the ears of my crew in turn” (242). Although he rows his men through Scylla knowing he will lose some, his leadership is seen here because he chooses his men and their safety over the harder way out, and he is compassionate towards his men. Not only is he compassionate, but he is thoughtful to what their best safety will be and lets his emotions take over his pride after he claims to never feel something so heart wrenching when he loses the men from the sirens. In addition to showing good leadership skills while on the course of his journey, his leadership skills are greatest when he finally reaches home. Odysseus shows a strong amount of power and leadership when he says to the suitors “You thought I would never return to Troy… Now all of you are trapped in deaths tight thongs” (438). After coming home to find the suitors taking advantage of his wealth and his wife, Odysseus displays an extreme amount of leadership by devising a plan to first

trick the suitors and then kill them off. When he and his son Telemachus take over control of their house and kill of all the suitors, it is debatebly one of the most powerful times of the books, and Odysseus gains back many wise ideas that he once had as a strong independent leader. Not only does he gain knowledge and leadership skills, he discreetly celebrates his arrival back home after so many hardships. This shows that Odysseus, although once weak, can come back to claim it all again and gain back his leadership skills. Odysseus leadership proves to be strong, because after the years of fighting and hardship his men learn to trust him again, and he gets to claim all that was once thought to be lost to him.
Throughout all of The Odyssey, Odysseus makes many decisions that are selfish and prove to be hard on his men and their journey. But, because of his brave skills that were tucked away, Odysseus proves to be a strong fighting leader by taking back his name and gaining the trust of his men again. This is important because while reading this, the readers may be lead to believe that Odysseus is selfish and cowardly, but learn to find that just like any great hero he proves to be cunning and a great leader.