Despair: It is always darkest just before it goes pitch black

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A motivational poster with the word "Despair," showing a landscape at dusk and the caption "It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.

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“It is always darkest just before it goes pitch black.” Are you too cynical? Hey, that’s a weakness. Maybe you should start looking at the brighter side of life. But what if you doubled-down on that inherent weakness? What if you got even more pessimistic?

The defeatists at Despair, Inc. have turned negativity into a business by creating demotivational posters that parody the inspirational messages decorating conference rooms across the country. Here are some of the favorites, David Rendall and I featured in Pink Goldfish:

QUALITY – The race for quality has no finish line—so technically, it’s more like a death march.

CUSTOMER CARE – If we really cared for the customer, we’d send them somewhere better.

APATHY – If we don’t take care of the customer, maybe they’ll stop bugging us.

MOTIVATION – If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon.

It might sound ridiculous to amplify your weaknesses. In fact, this is exactly the opposite of what most companies do. The traditional approach involves highlighting positive features and obscuring any negative ones.

Takeaway: Be different. Every weakness has a corresponding strength.

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