Leadership In Action In Homer's 'Odyssey'

Leadership In Action As Leroy Eimes once said “a leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.” Just like the quote implies qualities of a leader go beyond that of just power. As the term “leader” is easy to define, leadership is difficult to fully implement. In Homer’s “The Odyssey,” leader Odysseus is the definition of Leroy Eimes quote - generally looking beyond certain situations when his crew members don’t. Trust over power is what contributes to the many attributes of a leader.

Odysseus’ crew giving him trust in being their leader, allowed for them to go through situations without power having to contribute to their outcomes. In Book 11/12, Odysseus and his crew have to

Odysseus, being the egocentric person he is, decides he is going to be binded to the mast of the ship. Of course, the song of the Sirens is too alluring and Odysseus cries out to his men to release him, but the men only tie him tighter. “The lovely voices in ardor appealing over the water made me crave to listen, and I tried to say ‘Unite me!’ to the crew, jerking my brows; but they bent steady to the oars.” (Homer, 216). In this part of the poem, leadership is strongly portrayed. The crew trusts Odysseus, and because they trusted him so much as to fill their ears with beeswax, they know that they can not let him go to the Sirens, even if he is the leader. This shows that leaders are not the most powerful, they are the most trusted. The crew trusts Odysseus to safely lead them home, so they don’t let him go. If Odysseus was only the leader because he was most powerful, the men would allow for Odysseus to just be let go of to follow the temptations of the Siren’s singing. The crew recognized in this moment that they needed their

In Book 12, the trust the crew puts in Odysseus, allows for the greatest possible outcome (minimal deaths) without Odysseus having to resort to power to get his men to do as he would like. Odysseus and his crew must travel around Scylla and Charybdis. Skylla is a 6 headed, man-devouring, monster, and Charybdis is a whirlpool threatening to swallow the ship. Advice given to the leader, Odysseus is to stay close to the edge of the cliffs when traveling around this area. Odysseus knows that traveling here is extremely risky; however, he and his crew must travel there during their journey. Odysseus, being a leader, knows he is sacrificing his crew members, but regardless he continues on his journey. “Heads up, lads! We must obey the orders as I give them.” (Homer, 216). This quote represents how the crew TRUSTED Odysseus to provide them with the safest possible outcome. No fear or threats are implemented because no power is needed for the crew to listen to Odysseus, all they simply had to do was trust him. Because Odysseus is a leader he is very clever, instead of having all of the crew, himself included sacrificed, he makes this