Great Books Ep 23: Single-Mindedness vs Practicality: The Role of a Trusted Advisor in Leadership

To a person blinded by a goal, everything else is oblivious. They may need a wise person like Ulysses to question, counsel, and push back.

“Let the sons of the Achaeans, say I, fight fasting and without food, till we have avenged them; afterwards at the going down of the sun let them eat their fill.”

~ The Iliad - Book XIX (Samuel Butler Translation. p139 / v200)

Brief Summary - The Iliad, Book XIX

Thetis gives Achilles the newly forged armor. He is ready to fight. Ulysses asks for time to re…