'What would you do if you weren't afraid?': How tech companies like Facebook are using motivational posters

Forget beanbags or arcade machines, motivational posters are  now the most important part of a tech office, says Susannah Butter
On message: the offices of Facebook, where artistic posters can provide inspiration and motivation
Ben Barry

In some offices it takes a while to absorb the culture. In the tech world, though, everything is accelerated; the writing is on the wall, with posters spelling out on-brand messages.

“Posters are one of the biggest culture carriers at Facebook,” says its chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. “We will be in a meeting and someone will quote something to somebody else, like ‘make great decisions’.” Other posters include “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”, “Done is better than perfect” and “We’re 1 per cent of the way there”.

Never mind motivational Instagram philosophy, or rousing speeches — if you want your team to do something, put it on a poster.

Conference call company Powwownow shares goals on the walls to motivate, while Pact Coffee has its “operating principles” spelt out on a wall in big letters at its Bermondsey HQ. Mantras include “open and honest, fresh” and the classic “team work makes the dream work”. In typical start-up style, “risk failure” is up there too.

Motivational: a poster at the offices of Facebook
Ben Barry

Laura Bridges, head of HR at the online coffee delivery service, says: “It reminds us of them every day and means they are open to anyone visiting the office to see. As a start-up with a small team keeping a focus on work that aligns with our principles is really important and it helps us to avoid distractions.”

Originally, Pact had posters on the walls with messages such as “make shit happen” but, says Bridges, “these have evolved to being almost art installations, making them striking and in-line with the feel of the rest of our office. That said, we never paint things on the walls because we are evolving so quickly that we always expect change.”

There is a fine line between being embarrassing and generally positive, especially if you are in a co-working space where others might not understand the nuances. Brendan Gill, CEO of OpenSignal, says: “Our previous company had some incredibly cheesy American motivational pictures in the office we inherited. Think a sky diver with a one-word tag line, ‘AMBITION’.”


In Clerkenwell, the walls of Techstars often carry messages like “fail faster; or move fast and break stuff”. Our mole says: “There is also something about the weekend being two extra work days. They’re quite cringey but they keep morale up.”

Media company The Tab has messages on its whiteboard like “many a false step is taken standing still” and “ask awkward questions”, but co-founder Jack Rivlin says they also use it for jokes and often comments are rubbed off.

“Work hard and be nice to people” is a popular mantra. Anthony Burrill, who designed a poster with the message on it 10 years ago, says it is still his bestseller. “I’ve lost count but we’ve definitely printed more than 30,000 copies. The posters go all over the world, from schools to prisons. I think I tapped in to a universal truth. I’ve got a copy framed on the wall in my studio, along with ‘I LIKE IT. WHAT IS IT?’”

Artistic: a colourful collage brightens up the work space
Ben Barry

He originally made it for friends and colleagues but was deluged by requests from strangers. “I’m happy to see it used anywhere,” he says. “It’s great that it has meaning to a broad range of people. People respond to the honesty of it, it really is the secret to a happy life.”

For Sandberg “it is part of a bottom-up approach. A lot of initial cultural ideas came from Mark [Zuckerberg] but we are very aligned as a group. It has to grow from below too.”

Don’t settle for white walls. These days it’s all about poster power.

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