Lessons from Dilbert
Published on 10/07/1996 under Book Reviews
One of the hottest, most sought-after management consultants these days is a 39-year old cartoonist and former cubicle dweller named Scott Adams. You can samples of his sage advice and business insight every day in his comic strip, DILBERT, which is distributed by United Feature Syndicate to more than 1,000 newspapers nationwide.
And while I have to admit I'm a big Dilbert fan (it's the first thing I look for in the comic section each morning), I'm more than a little concerned about the media's portrayal of Dilbert and the significance of the character's popularity among business people.
A recent cover story in NEWSWEEK (8/12/96) advances the basic premise that Dilbert not only reflects conditions in the real world of business, but holds out the distinct possibility that real world conditions are worse than those depicted in the strip! Give me a break.
Like any good cartoonist Adams finds valid situations and distorts them for comic effect. It's like a caricaturist who enlarges a person's nose or lips. The result is not intended to be an actual portrayal of the subject, but rather a parody designed to evoke a laugh.
That's not to say you can't pick up useful management tips from Dilbert. Adam's new book, The Dilbert Principle (Harper Business, 1996), is chock full of them:
Contrary to what you might expect from the word "budget," it is not a fixed amount. It will change many times throughout the year to take advantage of the principle of "Budget Uncertainty". If you change the budget often enough, the employees will begin acting like gophers on a rifle range, afraid to do anything that draws attention. And where there is fear, there is low spending. And where there is low spending, there are huge stock options for senior management.
Managers are like cats in a litter box. They instinctively shuffle things around to conceal what they've done.
When companies try to encourage creativity, it's like a bear dancing with and ant. Sooner or later, the ant will realize it's a bad idea, although the bear might not.
Obviously, Adams, likes animal analogies. I do, too, because they're fun to read and they make vivid, lasting impressions.
But my favorite Dilbert theme has to do with "mission statements." According to Adams, a Mission Statement is defined as a long, awkward sentence that demonstrates management's inability to think clearly.
In a recent interview with INC. Magazine editor-in-chief George Gendron (7/96 issue), Adams is asked, now that he's an entrepreneurial small business manager, if he has written a mission statement for his company yet. He responds, "I don't even have a company name, let alone a mission statement. If I ever have a mission statement, please shoot me."
While I don't agree with the shooting part, I do agree I've never seen a mission statement that significantly contributes to a company's success. And yet countless hours are invested by senior managers attempting to craft a proper one.
As Adams points out, "A company with a good product rarely needs a Mission Statement."
The central thrust of Adams' book, and to a large extent his comic strips, is that management inflicts a wide variety of time-wasting burdens on otherwise productive workers to inhibit their performance:
reorganizations
budget reviews
special project assignments
quality management initiatives
ISO 9000 applications
reengineering programs
mission statements
etc., etc., etc.
The book's title, The Dilbert Principle, refers to the supposition that "the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management." It goes like this: "Well, he can't write code, he can't design a network, and he doesn't have any sales skill. But he has very good hair..."
Adams hammers away persistently at this theme, describing the most important skill for any leader as "the ability to take credit for things that happen on their own."
In all, it's a funny, easy-to-read book that rewards the reader with many pearls of wisdom and points to ponder. But is it an accurate reflection of the way things are in the real business world? I think not.
One thing's for sure: Scott Adams developed his unique perspectives and sharpened his rapier wit under actual, real world conditions. For seventeen years, first as an operations and commercial lending manager with Crocker National Bank, and later in various "pseudo-engineering" positions with Pacific Bell, he paid his dues in the trenches of corporate warfare.
His primary defense mechanism was to entertain himself during long, tedious meetings by doodling insulting cartoons of his co-workers and bosses. Eventually, he decided to submit some samples to cartoon syndicators, and in 1989, his big break came when Dilbert was accepted by United Features and sold to 50 newspapers on a trial basis.
Adams continued working for Pacific Bell until June of 1995, getting up early and doing his cartoon work before leaving for the office. In fact, PacBell ran his strips in its company newsletter, proving that company managers have a sense of humor.
But the Dilbert strip did not take off until 1993 when he convinced the syndicator to put his e-mail address along the edge of each comic strip. Suddenly, he was receiving hundreds of daily suggestions for feature topics, and virtually all of these had to do with absurdities in the workplace.
The more he focused on this, the more popular the strip became, growing from less than 100 newspapers in 1993 to more than 1,100 today. His web site, The Dilbert Zone logs more than 55,000 hits per day and he receives an average of 300 e-mails each day, which he professes to personally review.
That should be enough information to keep him busy for many years to come.
And that's good news, because the business world loves Dilbert and I think Scott Adams is providing a valuable service by poking fun at workplace atrocities. But let's not get carried away by suggesting it mirrors real world conditions. Can't we just have a good laugh and let it go at that?