Argumentative Essay Example: Odysseus's Dangerous Ego and Pride

What makes someone a good leader is having the ability to find solutions to the problems they face with their team and direct their team effectively without creating mistrust Odysseus can do none of this. Odysseus is not a successful leader because he is too proud of himself and his ego is very high. He continually makes decisions that are based on his pride. He is highly greedy and from his hubris comes his decision-making, he is enthusiastic, has no decent communication skills, and makes bad choices. Odysseus is a person with hubris and his leadership skills are greatly impaired. In the Odyssey, Odysseus, the protagonist shows that he is not an effective leader. In that matter, Odysseus was not very wise and productive either in that he left an insanely powerful bag of winds in the hull of a ship where everyone can access it instead of holding it somewhere that shows it's important, such as knowing completely on his belt that people were super greedy back then and he chose not to tell his men that when they needed it this could have been used in a late period.

The author states, “ No ship's company can claim to have passed her without loss and grief; she takes, from every ship, one man for every gullet. The opposite point seems more a tongue of land you'd touch with a good bowshot, at the narrows. A great wild fig, a shaggy mass of leaves, grows on it, and Charybdis lurks below to swallow down the dark sea tide. Three times and sucks it down again three times, a whirling maelstrom;" if you come upon her then the god who makes earth tremble could not save you. No, hug the cliff of Scylla, take your ship through on a racing stroke. Better to mourn six men than lose them all, and the ship, too” (1225-2230). Here Odysseus's arrogance, unfaithfulness, and stubbornness led to the betray of his men. In the case of the sirens, despite the fact that Odysseus knows he is strong, he was insanely stupid. Thinking that in the face of creatures that have taken down many in their lifetime, he would be able to contain himself, and it was kind of him trying to make his ego even bigger given the fact that no man has ever lived to hear the siren's song and that he would have died for certain if he had not tied himself down. Odysseus is a person with hubris and his leadership abilities are greatly impaired. Hubris is a good thing until it like Odysseus, turns into arrogance. Since they suffer from hunger, the men of Odysseus disobey His commandments, and they eat the holy cattle shortly after they arrive. When they set sail again they are punished by death, Zeus's thunderbolt destroys their ship and all the men are drow. Odysseus only survives. He's making his way To the island of Calypso. The author states, “Then coasting the noble island of the god, v/here grazed those cattle with wide brows, and bounteous flocks of Helios, lord of noon, who rides high heaven. From the black ship, far still at sea, I heard the lowing of the cattle winding home and sheep bleating; and heard, too, in my heart the words of blind Teiresias of Thebes and Circe of Aeaea: both forbade me the island of the world's delight, the Sun" (1355-1365). The protagonist reveals in the Odyssey, that he is not a successful leader. Odysseus first lets his men starve in that respect, then lets them die. It was wrong for them to eat the Sun God's cattle. They continuously make decisions based on his pride. He's very stubborn and his decision-making comes from his zeal, he's passionate, he doesn't have effective communication skills, and he makes bad decisions. Odysseus is a hubris person and his leadership abilities are seriously deficient. If he was an efficient leader he would not of let his crew starve and die. Combined, these decisions reflect Odysseus' corruptible defects from ego to greed, he is by no means a perfect man and is thus a liability against his crew and men. He is not a successful leader since he is so proud of himself and his ego is very high.  He constantly makes choices that are based on his pride. He is very arrogant and his decision-making comes from his hubris, he is enthusiastic, has no good communication skills, and makes poor choices. Odysseus is an individual with hubris and is severely deficient in his leadership skills.