The Failures of Odysseus’ Heroic Leadership

Abstract

In the paper, the authors offer preliminary insights about leadership and the reasons why looking at the Odysseus myth might not be a good idea. The focus of the paper is on the distinction between heroic behaviors and leadership behaviors and how misalignment between the two undermines the organizational mission (Nostoi). Quality of leadership is still today judged by focusing on the leader’s behavior rather than the success of the mission and the effect on their followers. This leads to various possibly wrong ends such as confusion about the importance of charisma, erosion of trust, and minimizing the importance of the overall mission compared to the personal goals of leaders.