How to Get a Real Education Scott Adams Summary

I caught up with Adams in his home studio where he brings Dilbert, Dogbert, and the pointy-haired boss to life. His new book, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, traces much of Adams' own career story as he mines the success lessons he's learned along the way, especially the lessons he's learned from failures. Why take advice from a cartoonist? Because, as Adams points out, he is "a professional simplifier." He says creating comics is a process whereby you strip out the unnecessary noise to reveal the "absurd-yet-true-core."

You can watch the interview here as Adams and I discuss his success formula, why he celebrates failure, and why most business professional can't stop themselves from overloading PowerPoint slides.

Scott Adams' Success Formula

Adams has analyzed his rise to the top of his profession as well as the lives of other successful individuals. The result is the Adams success formula: "Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success." Adams says you can raise your market value by being "merely good—not extraordinary—at more than one skill." Adams told me his career is an example of the success formula in action. "I'm a poor artist. Through brute force I brought myself up to mediocre. I've never taken a writing class, but I can write okay. If I have a party at my house, I'm not the funniest person in the room, but I'm a little bit funny, I can write a little bit, I can draw a little bit, and you put those three together and you've got Dilbert, a fairly powerful force."  Adams says the addition of a little business knowledge (he has an MBA from Berkeley's Haas School of Business) and the sum of his "average" talents makes him more valuable than any one skill alone.

The business know-how was essential in transforming Dilbert from a small cult hit to a household name. For example, early in Dilbert history, the comic was stalled in newspaper sales. Adams was still working at his day job at Pacific Bell. His basic knowledge of a new platform—the Internet—helped him generate more exposure. Dilbert was the first syndicated comic to run for free on the Internet. His "early comfort" with technology also gave Adams the brilliant idea of putting his email address in every strip, the first syndicated cartoonist to do so. "My business training told me I needed to open a direct channel to my customers and modify my product based on their feedback."

As I left his office, Adams pointed out, "You're an example of the success formula, too. You're not a TV anchor anymore, but you have valuable video skills." I thought about it a moment and realized Adams is right. My former career as a television anchor and CNN correspondent taught me video skills, writing, public speaking and how to simplify complex messages, all skills I use every day in my business.

Adams enrolls in a public speaking course to boost his market value

Public speaking and knowing your way around a PowerPoint are some of the bonus skills that Adams says will give you a better a chance at succeeding in the workplace.

"People don't realize this [public speaking] is something they can learn. Most people are born thinking I've been talking since I was two years old. How hard could it be? But the people who are gifted at it have been trained and have learned the techniques of communication."

Early in his career Adams realized he needed to improve his public speaking ability, so he enrolled in a Dale Carnegie course when his employer offered to pick up the tab. He learned to speak up in front of an audience, but more importantly he learned the power of praise and positive reinforcement, a key tenant of the Dale Carnegie training. He also learned about human potential and overcoming our fears. "We don't always have an accurate view of our own potential. I think most people who are frightened of public speaking and can't imagine they might feel different as a result of training. Don't assume you know how much potential you have. Sometimes the only way to know what you can do is to test yourself."

Adams failed his way to success

Adams is "delighted" to tell you about his failures. And there were many. He had ideas that didn't pan out (a rosin bag that attached to a Velcro strip on tennis shorts, a meditation guide, computer games, web sites, investments), and careers that failed to take off (banking, finance, restaurants). The formula, however, is to learn something from every failed endeavor; something that you can use in the future. "Success is entirely accessible, even if you happen to be a huge screwup 95 percent of the time," says Adams.

"If you have a choice, success is better than failure," Adams told me. "But life is messy and things don't always work. It's better to pick tasks and challenges, that no matter what happens, you're going to come out with some skills you didn't have. Maybe you'll meet some people or you've acquired resources. I try to make sure all my failures have that quality so I can at least pick their pocket before they die."

Finally, I asked Adams a question that jumped to mind as I read his book. The character, Dilbert, works in a soul-crushing workplace with Catbert, the evil HR director, and a clueless boss. Yet Adams calls himself an "optimist."

"I'm an optimist about me. Other people are a mess! I'm glad they are because it's fodder for my comic," Adams says with a laugh. "It's an interesting world where individuals can be petty and evil and terrible and selfish, but capitalism and society and the way it's organized—the sum of those things—is actually kind of awesome."

Carmine Gallo is the communications coach for the world's most admired brands. He is a popular keynote speaker and author of several books, including the international bestsellers The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Carmine's upcoming book, Talk Like TED, reveals the 9 public-speaking secrets of the world's top minds. Sign up for Carmine's newsletter and follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

How to Get a Real Education Scott Adams Summary

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2013/10/23/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-reveals-the-simple-formula-that-will-double-your-odds-of-success/

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