Odysseus, in Homer’s The Odyssey, displays both strong and weak leadership skills in certain situations. Odysseus stays protective and caring but isn’t very trusting or open to his crew. He doesn’t tell his crew about what the prophet said, and what was in the bag from the Wind King. When the crew was on the Island of the Sun God, Odysseus blatantly said for them not to touch the cattle.
Yet he failed to explain the consequences. Since his actions illustrate both strong and weak leadership, each even affected the way Odysseus would lead the crew.Odysseus received a fortune from the Prophet, Teiresias. Teriresias tells Odysseus, “Avoid those kine, hold fast to your intent, and hard seafaring brings you all to Ithaca.
But if you raid the beeves , I see destruction for ship and crew. Though you survive alone, bereft of all companion, lost for years, under strange sail shall you come home, to find your own house filled with trouble…” (l. 630-636) meaning Odysseus knew that if the crew would touch the cattle, they would die. Odysseus didn’t tell the crew anything he learned from the Prophet.
Being selfish, he kept all of the information he received to himself. Odysseus shows weak leadership qualities, because he’s putting his crew in risk of death. The crew sails onto the Island and is told not to touch the cattle, or they would have to pay dearly for it. Odysseus didn’t tell his crew what exactly would happen to them if they touched one of the cattle.
Thinking the consequences mustn’t be extremely harmful, Eurylochus convinces the crew to kill and feast on one of the Sun God’s cattle.Yet, they did not know Lampetia was guarding the cattle, “They have killed your kine. (l. 921) she told her father, Lord Helios. Lord Helios then prayed to Zeus to make Odysseus’s crew pay for what they did. This makes Odysseus seem like a bad leader, he didn’t tell his crew about what Lord Helios would do to the crew, resulting in all the men dying except Odysseus.
himself, how he was going to survive and get home safe, and how they could possibly die, but he wouldn’t. Odysseus is risking the life of his crew, making him a bad leader. Odysseus could have warned his crew about the situation and told them that they had to pass up the island instead of stopping.
