Leadership Essay, Research Paper

Leadership

Leadership is used everyday by many different people, but mainly by the same people day after day. These people are know as Leaders, and in the stories of Beowulf and Iliad there are some great examples of good leaders and bad leaders.

Beowulf is what I would call a good leader; not only did he have leadership but he also showed plenty of courage, respect, strength, and bravery. Beowulf showed internal attributes of leadership by choosing the mightiest man for an adventure (line 120), and he also pointed his men straight to Danish shore (line 124). The physical attributes of leadership that Beowulf displayed are when he ordered some men to remain with their weapons and lead the others to take care of business (line 136). The examples of what constitutes a good leader that I described above are just a few of Beowulf s traits to why he is a good leader.

The many other traits of Beowulf also lead to his good leadership skills. Bravery for example shows he needs nothing but his body and mind to conquer his greatest enemies (line 168). Another trait that caught my eye is respect; if there is no respect for a leader than how can one be considered a “good” leader. Beowulf once again shows great respect for the people, because the people would talk amongst each other about how brave and courageous he was (lines 380-384).

Beowulf s courage and strength can not be forgotten, for he hunted monsters out of the ocean; (line 156). Wiglaf was one who was sent by Beowulf to get treasure from the dragons, before he was to pass away (lines 756-758). Not only was Beowulf a great leader in the peoples eyes, but they loved him so much that they risked their own lives for his because they respected his leadership.

As for the story of Iliad, both good and bad examples of leadership is complied. The two characters that I am going to concentrate on are Achilles and Hector. These two characters display their idea of leadership in two very different ways.

Hector seemed to me to be a man who is kind, giving and thoughtful. As for Achilles, I really didn t get any good impressions of him. Hectors internal sense of leadership was that he thinks of others; he wanted to give his body to the people for warmth. He stated, “Let me have my body back, so our men and women may accord me decency of fire when I am dead (lines 186-188). Achilles response to Hectors request was much of, ” I will not give you your body to give to the people for their warmth, because the dogs and birds should have every scrap of you (lines 201-202).”

Hectors strength also was another good factor to his “good” leadership; because he was not afraid to speak out to others (lines 111-112). Hector believed that Achilles heart was made of iron and was scared for what the gods would do to him (lines 204-206). Achilles may not be a “good” leader but his strength was his smarts, for he choose the right place to stab Hector and that was the bare throat (lines 158-169). These two characters that I just briefly described are very different in what they believed was leadership.

The stories of Beowulf and Iliad helped me to better understand what the difference is between a “good” leader and a “bad” leader. I believe that this will help me think about what I could do to maybe become a better leader and I know it will help me realize that not every leader is a “good” leader.