You may know that I do 1-to-1 coaching in my Creative Conversations service. One of my current clients is using the life of Winfield Scott as a way of exploring his own leadership. I’m amazed by Scott. It’s a shame we don’t have a better understanding of his historical significance.

One reason for the lack of appreciation is random and bizarre. Photography emerged as a more common tool in the mid-19th century. The Civil War is the first photographed war. As it happened, Scott was at an advanced age at that point and was also very fat. The combination of old age and obesity captured in a photograph resulted in Scott’s permanent impression as feeble, inactive, and generally bumbling and inept.

I can tell you with total certainty that the majority of Scott’s life prior to that point proved the exact opposite of that impression.