Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert and one of the few cultural voices unafraid to think out loud, passed away Tuesday at age 68. He spent his last year fighting a metastasized form of prostate cancer. Early reports reveal that the day before his death, the man who once called himself an atheist found God and converted to Christianity. Adams told fans earlier this month that remission was no longer possible and that he expected to die in January. Even then, he kept hosting his daily podcast for as long as he could, speaking straight until his voice gave out.
Adams’ comic strip Dilbert was more than a funny take on the absurdities of the corporate world. It was an unfiltered mirror showing just how ridiculous modern office life had become. His workplace satire offered something rare: honesty so sharp that every cubicle dweller recognized it instantly. For decades, Dilbert managed to make people laugh at the same soul-sucking system that kept them awake at night, until race-related comments set off a firestorm and the strip was cancelled back in 2022.
In honor of Adams and his lifelong habit of making people laugh at their own misery, here’s a countdown of my five favorite Dilbert strips.
5. It’s the Small Graces That Get Everyone Through the Work Day (August 16, 2011)
The Pointy-Haired Boss actually shortens a meeting, which earns him the rarest kind of gratitude. In this strip, Adams nails a truth anyone who’s ever attended a meeting understands: people don’t want inspiration, they just want to get back to their desks. When the boss ends with “the best plan in the world,” there’s no point in feedback. Dilbert’s coworker politely thanking him for wrapping up early feels like a moment of grace in the cubicle jungle.
4. Lucky for Dilbert, He Keeps Up with Current Technology (November 9, 1993)
Here the boss confuses “Unix” with “eunuchs,” nearly turning an IT discussion into a surgical nightmare. The joke is simple, but it captures one of Adams’ favorite themes — how clueless leadership can cripple the people below them. In one quick gag, Adams exposed both the comic absurdity of office life and the emasculating power of corporate incompetence. Dilbert, as usual, saves the day while his boss keeps smiling, blissfully unaware.
3. Wally Thinks in the Long-Term, Not the Short (December 3, 2009)
Wally goes out of his way to craft a “reusable presentation,” which sounds impressive until you realize it’s just another excuse to dodge real work. Adams loved Wally because he represented what everyone secretly wants — to outwit the absurd system that rewards pretending to work instead of actually producing. It’s office anarchy disguised as clever laziness, and it rings true because so much modern work is theater anyway.
2. What Pointy-Haired Boss Doesn’t Understand Could Fill a Library (January 19, 2015)
Dilbert explains to his boss why he’s the perfect manager, bluntly exposing that the man in charge has no idea what’s going on. Adams didn’t hold back here. He showed the thrill of a worker outsmarting his superior and getting away with it. It’s a fantasy every sane employee has had at least once. The strip cuts right into the heart of managerial nonsense that drives good employees insane and keeps bureaucracy stumbling forward.
1. Always Read Work Emails Very Carefully (December 22, 2016)
When Dilbert describes a memo as a “strategy to destroy the company,” he says what countless workers wish they could say aloud. Adams was a master at taking a normal office situation and reminding everyone how ridiculous it actually is. His work hit hard because it told the truth about the modern workplace; that incompetence at the top usually gets rewarded while everyone else cleans up the mess.
Beyond his cartoon fame, Adams was a thinker who used his podcast Real Coffee with Scott Adams to explore why people believe what they believe. He didn’t flatter his audience. He challenged them. He looked past the daily outrage cycle and asked bigger questions about how persuasion, faith, and human behavior shape our choices. That rare curiosity made him stand apart — and often made him a target.
Before his death, Adams posted one final message on X: “I had an amazing life. I gave it everything I had. If you got any benefits from my work, I’m asking you to pay it forward as best you can. That is the legacy I want. Be useful.” It was clear-eyed, blunt, and generous in equal measure, just like him. The man who mocked workplace absurdity for three decades ended his life with a lesson about purpose.
A Final Message From Scott Adams pic.twitter.com/QKX6b0MFZA
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) January 13, 2026
When you think about it, Adams was still teaching. None of us know how much time we have left, but we do have control over how we spend it. He found faith in the end, which says a lot about what really matters when the critics, tribulations, and noises fade away. It’s never too late to believe. And it’s never too early to live like it means something.
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