How successful a leader do you think Odysseus was of his men in

Books 9-12?
If one were to ask if Odysseus was a good leader to his men, the resulting
answer would rely on the demonstration of his abilities to lead. The
question of how successful he was, however, is dependant on his
relationship with his men. While Odysseus displays leadership qualities
such as strength of character as well as good strategising, it cannot be
said that he is a successful leader, primarily as he does not maintain a
good relationship with his men. Furthermore, he comes out of Book 12
alone, his men having all been killed, further exemplifying the point that
he might have the potential to be a good leader but is unsuccessful about
it.
Odysseus demonstrates his strength of character when he shows
bravery, and a primary example of this is at Circes island, when he
decides to stay and rescue his men after Circe turns them into pigs. With
this, he reveals the responsibility he feels for his men, as he does not force
Eurylochus, who has just come from Circes house, where his other men
are held, but instead decides to do it of his own accord, perhaps out of
duty as he declares that he has absolutely no choice. This responsibility
is later exemplified when he meets Elpenors ghost in the Underworld,
when Elpenor requests for him to cremate his dead body and Odysseus
agrees, going back to Circes island afterwards to fulfil Elpenors request.
Odysseus is also a master strategist, tactically planning ahead for his
men. For example, at Circes island, he decide(s) the better course would
be tosend out an exploring party, splitting his men into two groups, one
led by him and one by Eurylochus. This division allows for comparison
between leadership abilities, immediately presenting Odysseus as the
better leader, as Eurylochus almost instantly deserts his group of men.
This is not true for all cases, however, as Odysseus occasionally leads his
men into undesirable situations. Earlier, on the island of the Cyclopes,
Odysseus men beg him to steal some of the food and leave the island
but he is not to be persuaded as he ha(s) hopes of some friendly gifts,
deciding to stay on the island instead to wait and see whose cave they
hide in. While it can be seen that Odysseus has the ability to convince his
men to follow his orders, the lives of the six men eaten by Polyphemus are
his responsibility and a result of his bad decision. On the other hand, it is
Odysseus cunning that gets the rest of them out of the situation as he
manages to trick Polyphemus into letting them out of his cave by way of
hiding under Polyphemus sheep. This craftiness is further demonstrated
when facing the Sirens, as his men manage to escape the path of the
Sirens and Odysseus come out as the only seafaring mortal man who has
heard the song of the Sirens and lived, though this is largely following the
advice of the goddess Circe.
Despite this, Odysseus is rather unsuccessful as a leader, as he does not
have a very good relationship with his men. It is shown that they are a
rather unruly lot, judging by how they refused to leave the land of the
Cicones, resulting in six of (his) strong-greaved comrades from each ship
to be killed. He appears to try to learn from this, as later at the land of the
Lotus-eaters, he instead drags his men off the island without question.
However, this is not exactly a good foundation upon which to build his

relationship with his men, later appearing disastrous as he declares that

after leaving Aeolia, an untrustworthy crew and a fatal sleep were (his)
downfall, and it is clear that neither him nor his men trust each other. He
obviously does not trust his men, as he admits that in (his) anxiety to
speed (his) journey home, (he) handled the sheet of the ship (himself). In
their turn, his men complain that it is not fair that Odysseus is valued
wherever he goes and welcomed in every port deciding of their own
accord to find out and see how much gold and silver is hidden in (Aelous
bag of winds), resulting in their ship getting whisked back to Aeolia.
Odysseus also does not always seem to openly care about his men, as at
Laestrygonia, he claims to not have followed his men when the captains
of (his) squadron all steered their curved craft straight into the harbour
and tied up in the sheltered waters within, which reveals bad leadership
and neglect of his duty towards his men. However, it must be admitted
that not all of this is Odysseus fault as later at the land of Helios the Sungod, he warns his men against killing the cattle of the Sun-god on two
occasions, because it is not right that only one or two (of them) should
know the prophecies that divine Circe has made to him, seemingly having
learnt from the Aeolia episode, but they dont listen, perhaps as a result to
the earlier neglect. Further, Odysseus also has to deal with a mutinous
crew, mainly led by Eurylochus, who earlier, as the intended leader of the
group at Circes island, let the men enter without following them, forcing
Odysseus to have to go and rescue them. Eurylochus does not just mutiny
to land on Thrinacie but also to eat the cattle and sheep of the Sun-god,
placing him responsible for the deaths of the rest of Odysseus crew.
Though Odysseus progressively tries to learn from his mistakes with his
crew, it does not actually work out very well, setting out Odysseus, while
wise and insightful to be a weak and ultimately unsuccessful leader, as
ultimately he cannot convince his men to listen to him. It is largely and
obviously clear that Odysseus is better off working independently as he is
later shown to thrive on his own using his own wits and with help from the
gods.