In both books, there are parallel struggles between men and gods to master the course of events. We can see examples of both positional leadership strategies (taking a fixed position on some issue, and devoting one's energies to maintaining this position) and relational leadership strategies (trying to achieve desired outcomes by flexible interaction and manoeuvre).
|Iliad ||Odyssey |
|Positional ||Achilles - angry with Agammemnon - seeks to prevent the Greeks from winning the war against Troy without Achilles ||Poseidon - angry with Odysseus - seeks to prevent Odysseus from reaching home safely ||Achilles and Poseidon assume structural symmetry between challenge and response - an environment in which simple strength always prevails. |
|Relational ||Zeus - manoeuvres between the conflicting interests of various gods to achieve the right balance ||Odysseus - establishes friendly relationships with assorted people who help him reach home safely ||Zeus and Odysseus exploit structural asymmetries in the environment, to produce favourable outcomes in more complex situations. |
Updated: I have inserted the word "structural" to clarify what I mean by symmetry here.
Technorati Tags: asymmetry Homer leadership