Scott Adams: The Man Who Wouldn’t Fail

 AT ITS PEAK, DILBERT used to be a regular in thousands of newspapers across the world and then just as suddenly, Scott Adams (1957-2026) found himself cancelled. But when he passed away on January 13 after a long-running battle with cancer, the man who created the most famous comic strip around the workplace died having rebuilt his standing. Even the US President Donald Trump posted on social media: “He was a fantastic guy, who liked and respected me when it wasn’t fashionable to do so.”

 Adams refused to accept failure and even wrote a book called How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. In it, he had a long list of ventures he had failed in—selling computer games; video-on-the-net service; grocery delivery business; two restaurants; and more. He was told his artistry was so bad, someone else should draw for him. It took its time, but Dilbert became and remained a cultural phenomenon for decades, a staple in Indian newspapers too.

Adams also became a social media icon, outspoken against woke culture. In 2023, reacting to a poll in which a large percentage of black Americans did not agree with the statement, “It’s okay to be white”, he made comments against them construed as racist. Mainstream media dropped his work. He switched to an online platform. After Trump’s election sounded the death knell on wokeism, Adams was again at the conversation’s centre. He also had a popular podcast. After he died, a letter written earlier was uploaded on his account and it had these lines: “I had an amazing life. I gave it everything I had.”