Dilbert: Corporate America's Pet Gadfly

There's a fox in the corporate henhouse, and his name is Dilbert. The relentlessly mediocre comic-strip engineer, cult hero to millions of American workers, has insinuated himself into the corner office. Bespectacled and crudely drawn, railing against executives as "galactic idiots," Dilbert has nonetheless achieved star status at management seminars. Consultant gurus speak of his wisdom, and CEOs hang him on the wall.

This week, artist Scott Adams' latest offering, The Dilbert Principle, lands at the top spot of BUSINESS WEEK's best-seller list, a roster customarily dominated by such titles as The Death of Competition. It's part comic collection, part management-book parody, and all antiboss. The definitive Dilbert principle: "The most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage--management."