Scott Adams

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For other persons named Scott Adams, see Scott Adams (disambiguation).
Scott Adams

Scott Adams
Birth name Scott Raymond Adams
Born June 8, 1957 (1957-06-08) (age 51)
Windham, New York
Nationality American
Area(s) artist, writer
Notable works Dilbert

Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several business commentaries, social satires, and experimental philosophy books.

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[edit] Personal life

Scott Adams was born in Windham, New York in 1957 and received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from Hartwick College in 1979. He also studied economics and management for his 1986 MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

In recent years, Adams has been hurt with a series of debilitating health problems. He has been dyslexic his entire life. Since late 2004, he has suffered from a reemergence of his focal dystonia which has affected his drawing.[1]He can fool his brain by drawing using a graphics tablet. On December 12, 2005, Adams announced on his blog that he also suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that causes the vocal cords to behave in an abnormal manner. However, on October 24, 2006, he again blogged stating that he had recovered from this condition, although he is unsure if the recovery is permanent. He claims to have developed a method to work around the disorder and has been able to speak normally since. Also, on January 21, 2007, he posted a blog entry detailing his experiences with treatment by Dr. Morton Cooper.

Adams is also a trained hypnotist, as well as a vegetarian. (Mentioned in, "Dilbert: A Treasury of Sunday Strips 00). He is a strong believer in affirmations, which he credits with his career, Dilbert's success, a ninety-four on a difficult qualification test for Berkeley, among other unlikely events. (Mentioned in The Dilbert Future)

He married Shelly Miles on July 22, 2006.

[edit] Career

Adams writes in a satirical, often sarcastic way about the social and mental landscape of white-collar workers in modern corporations and other large enterprises. The style is reminiscent of other writers in this genre, for example C. Northcote Parkinson.

Prior to his success as a writer/cartoonist, Adams worked closely with telecommunications engineers at Crocker National Bank in San Francisco between 1979 and 1986, and at Pacific Bell between 1986 and June 1995, and draws on their personalities for those of his Dilbert characters. Adams first published Dilbert in 1989, while still employed at Pacific Bell.

He is also the CEO of Scott Adams Foods, Inc., makers of the Dilberito & Protein Chef, and a co-owner of Stacey's Café in Pleasanton, California. Much of his interest in the food business comes from the fact that he is a vegetarian.

Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine credits Adams for launching his career as a cartoonist.

In 1997, at the invitation of Logitech CEO Pierluigi Zappacosta, Adams, wearing a wig and false mustache, successfully impersonated a management consultant and tricked Logitech managers into adopting a mission statement that Adams described as "so impossibly complicated that it has no real context whatsoever."[2]

Adams is an avid fan of the science fiction TV series Babylon 5. He appeared in the season 4 episode "Moments of Transition" as a character named "Mr. Adams," who hires former head of security Michael Garibaldi to find his lost dog and cat. He also had a cameo in a third-season episode of NewsRadio, in which the character Matthew Brock, played by Andy Dick, becomes an obsessed Dilbert fan.

He is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

[edit] Publications

[edit] Awards

Adams has received a great deal of recognition for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award and Newspaper Comic Strip Award for 1997 for his work on Dilbert. He has also been climbing the Suntop Media & European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) rankings of the 50 most influential management thinkers placing 31st in 2001, [3] 27th in 2003, [4] and 12th in 2005. [5] He is also a member of Mensa.[6]

He received the NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language for his participation in "Mission Impertinent" (San Jose Mercury News West Magazine, November 16, 1997).

[edit] Coined phrases

Adams has coined or popularized words and phrases over the years, such as:

"Cow-orker" was a pre-existing word from Usenet that Adams popularized through his newsletter. Similarly, "Induhvidual" gained popularity through the newsletter, though it was coined by a reader.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Scott Adams, Drawing the Line", The Washington Post, 2005-05-10. Retrieved on 2008-01-28. 
  2. ^ http://web.mit.edu/jcb/humor/scott-adams-mgmt-consultant
  3. ^ 2001 Results. The Thinkers 50. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  4. ^ 2003 Results. The Thinkers 50. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  5. ^ 2005 Results. The Thinkers 50. Retrieved on 2008-01-28.
  6. ^ Alexander, Bernie. Mensa: Are You Smart Enough?. AskMen.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
  7. ^ http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/02/philosotainment.html

[edit] External links

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