First Post

When we began talking about leadership during class, I thought of Odysseus from the novel The Odyssey. He is a great example of a well rounded leader- meaning he had lots of traits one might expect a great leader to have. His best trait, however, was his ability to make quick and effective decisions that led his followers to safety and success. With this ability, and his cunningness, he was also able to convince his followers to do things that they necessarily did not want to do, because he knew about their desires. For example, he was able to convince his men to make several dangerous stops on their journey home in order to get things such as gold. An example of how he used his intelligence of his followers is when he disguised himself as a beggar. He had been gone for a long time, and wanted to see what they really thought about him before he decided to reveal his homecoming. He learned that they truly did respect and want him back, as they did not like how the suitors were treating them. From this, he also learned about the suitors trying to replace him, so he could eventually overthrow them and regain control. From this action, he used the friendships he had with his followers to successfully regain his power, and so that everything would go back to the way it used to be- which was a win-win scenario for everyone!