Cerebral Shangrila

Sunday, April 24, 2005

The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams-- Book Review

The last time I laughed out loud when travelling alone in a crowded train was due to P.G.Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster. Scott Adams made me do it again. Scott Adams is undisputably the king of " Office Humor" and his popular creation " Dilbert" is acknowledged as an enduring corporate icon.After several years as a Cartoonist ( After his 9 year career at Pac Bell), Adams decided to write a book satiring the Corporate World.

The Book is subtitled " A cubicle's eyeview of Bosses,Meetings,Management Fads & other workplace afflictions". In the next 300 odd pages he dips his pen with humor,satire and cartoons about most management buzzwords and fads. Every line of the book drips with humor and he leaves you spellbound with his creativity and quick wit.

This book is a must read for anyone who has worked in an office and definitely more so for MBA's and B-school students so that they don't take themselves too seriously ! I borrowed this book from the Library but am now planning to buy it .

Here are some snippets from the Book :

Foreward : These days it seems like any idiot with a laptop computer can churn out a business book and make a few bucks. That's certainly what I'm hoping. It would be a real letdown if the trend changed before this masterpiece goes to print.

on Voicemail : Voice Mail has freed more employees from work than any other innovation.

on Marketing : The entire discipline of marketing can be summarised by " If you lower the prices you can sell more units" .

on Consultant : A consultant is a person who takes your money and annoys your employees while tirelessly searching for the best way to extend the consulting contract.

Business Plans : Somewhere between the hallucinations of senior management and the cold reality of the market lies something called a business plan.

Sales : If your company's products are overpriced and defective you can compensate by having a good sales incentive plan.

ISO 9000 : A group of bored europeans had a few too many heinekens and decided to play an elaborate prank on the big companies of the world.

3 Comments:

  • Very true, this is an awesomw book. I enoyed it especially 'coz I have TQM as a subject in my 4th year...

    By Blogger Srikar, at 2:56 PM  

  • Srikar, True . It was awesome.

    By Blogger Cogito, at 10:02 PM  

  • Hey,
    Nice blogging. U've written some pretty interesting reads. I wanted to have a talk with you. Could you please get back to me at siddharthas2006@email.iimcal.ac.in or just send me an offline msg at siddhartha_26@yahoo.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:59 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home