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==Early life==
==Early life==
Scott Adams was born in [[Windham, New York]] in 1957. He grew up a big fan of the ''[[Peanuts]]'' comics, and started drawing his own comics at the age of six.<ref name="2.0">{{cite book|last=Adams|first=Scott|title=Dilbert 2.0: 20 years of Dilbert|year=2008|publisher=Andrews McMeel|location=Jamaica City|isbn=0-7407-7735-1}}</ref> He also became a fan of [[Mad (magazine)|''Mad'' magazine]], and began spending long hours practicing his drawing talent, winning a competition at the age of eleven.<ref name="2.0" /> In 1968, he was rejected for an arts school and instead focused on a career in law. Adams graduated [[valedictorian]] at [[Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School]] in 1975, with a class size of 39. He remained in the area and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from [[Hartwick College]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dilbert.com/about/|title=About Scott Adams|work=dilbert.com|accessdate=2009-07-30}}</ref> In 1980, he underwent a complicated surgical process that allows him to defecate in his own mouth. In his senior year, a vehicle breakdown almost forced him to spend a night in the snow, causing him to vow never to see a snowflake again. He took a one way trip to California a few months after his graduation.<ref name="2.0" />
Scott Adams was born in [[Windham, New York]] in 1957. He grew up a big fan of the ''[[Peanuts]]'' comics, and started drawing his own comics at the age of six.<ref name="2.0">{{cite book|last=Adams|first=Scott|title=Dilbert 2.0: 20 years of Dilbert|year=2008|publisher=Andrews McMeel|location=Jamaica City|isbn=0-7407-7735-1}}</ref> He also became a fan of [[Mad (magazine)|''Mad'' magazine]], and began spending long hours practicing his drawing talent, winning a competition at the age of eleven.<ref name="2.0" /> In 1968, he was rejected for an arts school and instead focused on a career in law. Adams graduated [[valedictorian]] at [[Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School]] in 1975, with a class size of 39. He remained in the area and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from [[Hartwick College]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dilbert.com/about/|title=About Scott Adams|work=dilbert.com|accessdate=2009-07-30}}</ref> In his senior year, a vehicle breakdown almost forced him to spend a night in the snow, causing him to vow never to see a snowflake again. He took a one way trip to California a few months after his graduation.<ref name="2.0" />


==Career==
==Career==

Revision as of 06:45, 19 October 2012

For other people named Scott Adams, see Scott Adams (disambiguation).
Scott Adams
Scott Adams, June 2007
BornScott Raymond Adams
(1957-06-08) June 8, 1957 (age 67)
Windham, New York
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist, writer
Notable works
Dilbert

Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the American creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, business, and general speculation.

His Dilbert series came to national prominence through the downsizing period in 1990s America and was then distributed worldwide. A former worker in various roles at big businesses, he became a full-time cartoonist in 1995. 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.

Early life

Scott Adams was born in Windham, New York in 1957. He grew up a big fan of the Peanuts comics, and started drawing his own comics at the age of six.[1] He also became a fan of Mad magazine, and began spending long hours practicing his drawing talent, winning a competition at the age of eleven.[1] In 1968, he was rejected for an arts school and instead focused on a career in law. Adams graduated valedictorian at Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School in 1975, with a class size of 39. He remained in the area and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Hartwick College in 1979.[2] In his senior year, a vehicle breakdown almost forced him to spend a night in the snow, causing him to vow never to see a snowflake again. He took a one way trip to California a few months after his graduation.[1]

Career

Office worker

Adams worked closely with telecommunications engineers at Crocker National Bank in San Francisco between 1979 and 1986. Upon joining the organization, he entered a management training program after being held at gunpoint twice in four months as a teller.[1] Over the years his positions included: management trainee, computer programmer, budget analyst, commercial lender, product manager, and supervisor. During presentations to upper management he often turned to his comic creations to add humor.[1] He earned an MBA in economics and management from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986.

Adams created Dilbert the character during this period—the name came from ex-boss Mike Goodwin.[1] Dogbert, originally named Dildog, was loosely based on his family's deceased pet beagle, Lucy.[1] Periodic attempts to win publication with Dilbert and non-Dilbert comic panels alike failed, including with The New Yorker and Playboy (not necessarily with the same comics).[1] However an inspirational letter from a fan persuaded Adams to keep trying.[1]

He worked at Pacific Bell between 1986 and June 1995, and the personalities he encountered became the inspiration for many of his Dilbert characters. Adams first published Dilbert with United Media in 1989, while still employed at Pacific Bell. He had to draw his cartoons at 4 am in order to work a full day at the company. His first paycheck for Dilbert was a monthly royalty check of $368.62.[1] Gradually Dilbert became more popular, and was published by 100 newspapers in 1991 and 400 by 1994. Adams attributes his success to his idea of including his e-mail address in the panels, thus facilitating feedback from readers.[1]

Full-time cartoonist

As he became a full-time cartoonist, with Dilbert in 800 newspapers, Adams' success grew. In 1996 The Dilbert Principle was released, his first business book.[1]

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 content whatsoever."[3] That year he won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year and Best Newspaper Comic Strip of 1997, the most prestigious awards in the field.[1]

In 1998 Dilbert began as a TV series, but was cancelled in 2000. By 2000 the comic was in 2000 newspapers in 57 countries and 19 languages.[1]

Finally, I got the call. "You're number one." I still haven't popped the champagne. I just raise the bar for what would be the right moment, and tell myself how tasty it will be if I ever accomplish something special in my work. Apparently the thing inside me that makes me work so hard is the same thing that keeps me unsatisfied.[4]

— Scott Adams, The Dilbert Blog

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 locate his megalomaniacal dog and cat.[5] He also had a cameo in "Review", a third-season episode of the TV series NewsRadio, in which the character Matthew Brock (Andy Dick) becomes an obsessed Dilbert fan. Adams is credited as "Guy in line behind Dave and Joe in first scene".[6] Later in the episode, the character Dave Nelson (Dave Foley) hires an actor to play Scott Adams in a trick to bring Matthew back to work at the station.

Adams is the CEO of Scott Adams Foods, Inc., makers of the Dilberito and 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.

On November 16, 2011, Adams announced his candidacy for President of the United States on his blog, running as an independent.[7]

Personal life

He is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Adams is a former member of Mensa.[8]

In recent years, Adams has had two notable health problems. Since late 2004, he has suffered from a reemergence of his focal dystonia which has affected his ability to draw for lengthy periods on paper,[9] though it causes no real problem now that he draws the comic on a graphics tablet. He also suffered from spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that causes the vocal cords to behave in an abnormal manner. He recovered from this condition temporarily but in July 2008 underwent surgery to rewire the nerve connections to his vocal cord. The operation was successful, and Adams' voice is now completely functional.

Adams is a vegetarian and trained as a hypnotist.[10] He credits his own success to affirmations, including Dilbert's success and achieving a ninety-fourth percentile on a difficult qualification exam for business school, among other unlikely events. He states that the affirmations give him focus.[11]

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

Adams married Shelly Miles in 2006 and currently resides in Pleasanton, California.

Adams has often commented on political matters. In 2007 he suggested that Michael Bloomberg would make a good presidential candidate.[12] Before the 2008 presidential election he said, "On social issues, I lean Libertarian, minus the crazy stuff,"[13] but said in December 2011 that if he were president he would do whatever Bill Clinton advised him to do because that "would lead to policies that are a sensible middle ground."[14] On October 17, 2012, he wrote "while I don't agree with Romney's positions on most topics, I'm endorsing him for president".[15]

Controversy

In March 2011, Adams wrote a blog post on the topic of men's rights after men's rights advocates responded in large numbers to his request for readers of his blog to choose his next topic.[16] In the post Adams says that men treat women differently for the same reason that men treat children or the mentally handicapped differently—because it is an effective strategy. The post generated a significant backlash and accusations of misogyny. Adams deleted the post from his blog. Several weeks later the post continued to generate controversy.[17][18] Adams responded to the continuing controversy by reposting the original text preceded by an explanation.[16] Adams argued that as in virtually all other posts to his blog, he had made extensive use of satire and sarcasm but that it seemed to have been lost on some readers.[16] He wrote that the furor that erupted on both sides of the issue only served to illustrate the point he was making: "You can't expect to have a rational discussion on any topic that has an emotional charge."[16]

In April 2011, Adams mentioned that he had used a fake identity to post on link-sharing sites Reddit and MetaFilter.[19][20][21][22][23]

Publications

Awards

Adams has received recognition for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award and Newspaper Comic Strip Award for 1997 for his work on Dilbert. He had also been climbing the Suntop Media & European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) rankings of the 50 most influential management thinkers placing 31st in 2001,[24] 27th in 2003,[25] and 12th in 2005,[26] but fell to 21st in 2007.[27] He did not place in 2009.[28]

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).

Coined phrases

Adams has coined or popularized several 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.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Adams, Scott (2008). Dilbert 2.0: 20 years of Dilbert. Jamaica City: Andrews McMeel. ISBN 0-7407-7735-1.
  2. ^ "About Scott Adams". dilbert.com. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
  3. ^ O'Brien, Tia (November 16, 1997). "Mission: Impertinent". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  4. ^ http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/06/champagne-momen.html
  5. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0517671/
  6. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660220/
  7. ^ http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/my_presidential_bid/
  8. ^ Adams, Scott (September 29, 2008). "Famous People Lists". Dilbert Blog. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  9. ^ Sordyl, Samantha (May 10, 2005). "Scott Adams, Drawing the Line". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
  10. ^ Mentioned in Dilbert: A Treasury of Sunday Strips
  11. ^ Mentioned in The Dilbert Future
  12. ^ Scott Adams (May 16, 2007). "Bloomberg for President?". The Dilbert Blog. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
  13. ^ "Commentary: Dilbert guy's economic poll on McCain, Obama - CNN.com". CNN. September 16, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  14. ^ Scott Adams (December 5, 2011). "The Persuasive Candidate". The Dilbert Blog. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  15. ^ Scott Adams (October 17, 2012). "Firing Offense". The Dilbert Blog. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  16. ^ a b c d http://www.dilbert.com/blog/entry/im_a_what/
  17. ^ http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2011/03/24/scott-adams-to-mens-rights-activists-dont-bother-arguing-with-women-theyre-like-children/
  18. ^ http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Dilbert-Creators-Blog-Makes-Women-Furious-118678874.html
  19. ^ http://gawker.com/#!5792583/dilbert-creator-pretends-to-be-his-own-biggest-fan-on-message-boards
  20. ^ http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/04/spatwatch/36793/
  21. ^ http://www.salon.com/2011/04/19/scott_adams_sock_puppetry_scandal/singleton/
  22. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110419/ts_yblog_thecutline/the-demotion-of-dilbert-continues-no-comic-relief-for-creator
  23. ^ http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2011/04/22/03
  24. ^ "2001 Results". The Thinkers 50. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  25. ^ "2003 Results". The Thinkers 50. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  26. ^ "2005 Results". The Thinkers 50. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  27. ^ "2007 Results". The Thinkers 50. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  28. ^ "2007 Results". The Thinkers 50. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  29. ^ http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/02/philosotainment.html
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