Odysseus: A Flawed Leader in Homer's Odyssey

Although some could possibly call Odysseus, the protagonist of Homer’s The Odyssey, a great leader, the fact that he fails to earn his men’s respect, endangers his men’s lives repeatedly and allows them to die due to his own selfishness states otherwise.

Odysseus is a weak and inadequate leader because he fails to earn the respect of his men time in and time out. Odysseus’ men attempt to steal from him and unknowingly unleash the bag of winds that was given to Odysseus by Aiolos (166, 49-550). A great leader has the respect of his men. Odysseus’ men disrespect him in this excerpt by attempting to rob Odysseus. Therefore, Odysseus is not an adequate leader since his men disrespect him by stealing from him. Also, at a later page in the book, one of his men refuse to follow Odysseus into danger and tells Odysseus, “You cannot return, I know it” (173, 293). A skillful leader has the

respect and confidence of his men supporting him. On page 173, one of Odysseus’ men blatantly states that he has no confidence in him, also showing that he has no respect in Odysseus. Hence, Odysseus is not an able leader since he does not have the respect or confidence of his men. Thirdly, his men argue with him when Odysseus refuses to make for shore on Hêlios’ island, resulting in Odysseus swaying to their demands, which ultimately leads to the predicted deaths of Odysseus’ entire crew (219, 380-381). In most cases, a great leader is able to have the confidence and therefore respect of his men. On page 219, Odysseus’ men disrespect him by stating that their opinion is better than his. Therefore, Odysseus is failing at being a true leader.
Odysseus is also a terrible leader because he knowingly leads his men to their dooms in order for him to get home. After coming back to Aiaia from the land of the dead, Circe gives Odysseus instructions on how to go on with his mission of getting home, and she tells him, “I see destruction for ship and crew. Rough years then lie between you and your homecoming, alone and old, the one survivor, all companions lost” (213, 166-170) - the same chilling message which Teirêsias, the ghost of a great Greek prophet, has already told him. Normally, an adept leader puts his men before himself. Here, Odysseus knowingly trades the lives of all of his men to get back home to the island of Ithaca after Circe warns him that it was foretold that all his men will have to die for him to get home. Thus, Odysseus is a horrible leader.
Lastly, Odysseus is a second-rate leader because he repeatedly lets his own foolishness endanger his men.

Odysseus lets himself and his men get trapped in a Cyclops’ cave where a number of men die (153, 312-316) Generally a true leader never allows his men to die for foolish and or unnecessary reasons. In this part of the text Odysseus allows his men to get trapped in a cave because he wants to wait to meet the owner of the cave which he was in. Hence, Odysseus is an awful leader due to the fact that he allows his men to die due to his own irresponsibility. Another similar instance is when he expects hospitality from the Lasitrygonês without even a shred of doubt that they would treat him well - even after making the same mistake with the cyclops’ earlier, both leading to the loss of many lives (168, 121-128). A great leader never lets men die due to their own error. In this case, Odysseus has entire benches worth of men die due to the fact that he did not learn from his earlier encounter with the cyclops. Thus, Odysseus is not as awe inspiring a leader as some may make him out to

be.