𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿: 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽

In the 9th year of the Trojan War, Apollo, son of Zeus came down from Olympus. He was in a rage.

Apollo, god of archery, began shooting arrows at the Greeks, killing them one by one. Funeral pyres burned heaps of dead Greek bodies day and night.

What or who unleashed Apollo's fury?

Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks at Troy.

When Apollo's priest came to Agamemnon with countless ransom to buy his dear daughter's freedom (Agamemnon held her captive in his tent as a prize-of-war), Agamemnon dismissed him brutally:

" I will not let her go. She shall grow old a very long way from her fatherland ... in my house and work the loom and share my bed."
( Translation from Homeric Greek by Emily Wilson*)

For 9 days, Agamemnon refused to return the woman. Apollo's plague of death continued.

On the 10th day, Achilles, a more junior leader and the Greek's most valuable fighter, rose to speak to Agamemnon on behalf of the troops.

"You have to send this woman to the god at once. ... One day we Greeks will pay you back with treasure."

Agamemnon was furious. He berated Achilles in front of all the troops.

Agamemnon acted in a way to many of us have seen in our workplaces. A toxic boss betrays what's right. They cause psychological and moral injury to others.

Achilles spoke for everyone, including Agamemnon. Agamemnon spoke, without ethics or morals, for himself. Epic disaster followed.

***
This is the first in a series of posts based on a book-in-progress. Working title: 𝘏𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 by psychiatrist Jonathan Shay, MD, Ph.D. and me.

My co-author's previous books 𝘈𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘯𝘢𝘮 and 𝘖𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢, have contributed to preventing psychological and moral injury in the military--and enriched the teaching of Homer on college campuses. Our new book aims to bring Dr. Shay's leadership lessons from Homer on preventing psychological and moral injury to a wider audience of leaders and followers.