The Inspiring Man Behind Thousands of Motivational Posters Rare was the '80s office without a motivational poster. We caught up with the man whose Successories had businesspeople hanging on every word.

They were icons of late-1980s America: framed posters of soaring eagles, rowing teams or lonely mountain peaks, each captioned with a mighty concept like "Perseverance," "Teamwork" or "Excellence" and followed by a compelling quote. They were meant to inspire the millions of people lingering in break rooms, waiting in dentists' offices or staring at the wall behind the boss's head. They were--and are--Successories posters, the brainchild of travel-company founder turned motivational rock star Mac Anderson.

While the posters these days are more commonly the subject of ironic memes or parodies than sought-after office artwork, there was a point in the early '90s when Anderson was shipping 2,000 prints a day, raking in $75 million in one year.

Anderson sold Successories 10 years ago to a private investor for an undisclosed amount, but he didn't leave motivation behind. Over the last five years his multimedia publishing company, Simple Truths, has sold more than $50 million worth of short motivational books--all designed to be read in about half an hour--including 1 million copies of 212: The Extra Degree.