More than 20 years ago, I hacked a Dilbert comic strip—probably for the first time. It was for a fair cause: one of my early master classes on innovation at the university. Scott Adams captured the spirit of the times inside a large corporation like no one else. In fact, I deliberately merged his creation with another of my personal references in the field of innovation.

This is the original comic strip 🙏:

Scott Adams published his first business book, The Dilbert Principle, in 1996. Clayton Christensen released The Innovator’s Dilemma in 1997.

Both became my fellow travelers in the early stages of my long journey through the ever-unknown lands of innovation.

Adams was one of those souls who, time and again, proved that “you” are not alone in front of the uncanny mirror of weird human reality.

Everybody felt comfortable talking about Dilbert’s witty satires… until 2023.

Life’s hard. Scott Adams entered the dubious Hall of Fame of Hideous Men¹. His time was ending. The times were A-Changin’.

Five days ago, on January 13, 2026, Scott Adams said goodbye:

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. This is the legacy I want.

Yes, Mr. Adams, I did get benefits from your work: inspiration.

This is the legacy we want. Thank you very much.

Ad astra.

____________________

(1) That’s why, by the way, it’s now so difficult to find the original comic strips and, sorry, they are not url-linked as usual in Mind The Post.

Featured Image: Coffee with Scott Adams, with a little help from my AI-friends