Despair

Many office workers are familiar with motivational posters, those stock photos and blasé catchphrases defining teamwork intended to inspire you to greater heights of productivity. However, there are some workplaces in need of “demotivation.” To answer this call, Despair, Inc. was formed in 1998 to provide motivational-poster parodies, known as demotivators. They trademarked the emoticon :-( and started selling it online (no charge for the basic model), freeing the demotivated to express their feelings of despair through e-mails. In 2005, company co-founder Dr. E. L. Kersten published the notable management book, The Art of Demotivation, which received high marks in the business community. Now the company has moved into the realm of podcasts with titles such as “Addressing Employee Complaints,” featuring the “It Can Be Worse Program” and “Principles of Organizational Storytelling,” viewable on the Web site. If you like NBC/BBC’s The Office, check out www.despair.com for further inspiration.