Scott Adams

Scott Adams, frustrated with the inanities of corporate America and its idiot bosses, created the comic strip "Dilbert" to lampoon all he considered repugnant-yet-funny in the workplace of cubicles. His title character Dilbert, the bespectacled MIT graduate with no mouth and flip-up tie, is part alter ego, part "every man." Dilbert was embraced by the comic-strip-reading public in 1989, and as of 2001, appeared through United Media's syndication efforts in an impressive 2,000 newspapers in 50-plus countries translated in 19 languages. Born on June 8, 1957, Adams was raised in Windham, New York, and as a youngster, he tried his hand at cartooning. He entered art contests with little success. He was chosen valedictorian of his high school class (he claimed it was because "the other 39 people in my class couldn't spell valedictorian"). From 1979 to 1986, he worked at a San Francisco bank in a variety of dead-end jobs (as a bank teller, he was held at gunpoint twice), then worked at Pacific Bell from 1986 to June 1995, mostly in various engineering groups. Inspired from Adams' idle doodlings during dull company meetings, nerdy Dilbert embodied many characteristics of his co-workers. Adams kept his day job at Pacific Bell for 8 years after the comic strip was launched, partly for financial security and partly for relevant material. He was finally asked to leave by a new boss because of "budget constraints." Adams' education was not in art or engineering; he earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, then earned an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. Adams is credited with being the first cartoonist to print his e-mail address in his comic strip and dilbert.com was the first syndicated comic strip to go online in 1995. As of 2001, it was the most widely read syndicated comic on the Internet. Adams has also successfully launched a full repertoire of Dilbert-emblazoned products from desk calendars to T-shirts; a Dilbert Web site; a short-lived animated TV show in 1999; and his own line of food products, including the "Dilberito," a frozen vegetarian burrito. Adams' many best-selling Dilbert books include "Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies"; "The Dilbert Future"; "I'm Not Anti-Business, I'm Anti-Idiot"; "Journey to Cubeville"; and "Random Acts of Management." Adams is an irreverent member of Mensa.