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The Office Snoutster

The Office Snoutster is an annoying individual that can unfortunately be seen in many organizations. They are commonly found in senior government or corporate roles following many years of successful snoutsting.

So, how do you recognize a Snoutster?
These individuals, be they men or women, are quite cunning and have an ability to hide their snoutster skills from most of their friends and work colleagues. However, there are some common behavioural clues that usually gives them away.

Manipulative: They are extremely manipulative, lazy and prefer to rely on others to do their work for them rather than seeing the need to get their own hands dirty.
Hunter Leeches: They can quickly target a strategic person that will assist them in progressing their own personal career objectives. Once identified, they hang around them like a leech, put their hungry teeth into them, and then suck like hell for their own wellbeing until their usefulness is no longer required. They then seek out a new sucking target and repeat the process.
Clothing: They will dress to deliberately seek praise and approval from any person that may provide potential leech nourishment.

Why the term Snoutster?
Consider the traits of an overweight pig that joyfully uses their nose to smell out an opportunity, then sticks it in with gusto leaving a monumental mess for others to clean up.

How does one become a Snoutster?
Most Snoutsters typically have had a favoured upbringing where they are repeatedly spoilt and receive ongoing praise from their parents, relatives and friends without them having to make an effort, thereby feeding their ‘leecherous’ cravings for personal fulfilment and ongoing sustenance. Once accustomed to a decadent no-work lifestyle, they quickly realize that the shrewd use of their snout is the only way for them to survive in the office, and in their other life endeavours.

Can the Snoutster be removed from your office?
Yes, but only when their manager finally recognizes that the Office Snoutster adds no recognizable financial value, and that they are also a massive toxic emotional drain on their direct reports and other employees. The required solution is a quick termination and speedy exit from the office.

So should you know of there being a Snoutster in your office, quickly root them out and blunt their oinking snout cravings before they create immeasurable damage to your organisation and your colleagues.

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by Steven Cramer on December 9, 2025  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steven Cramer on December 9, 2025

https://thinkingfuturethoughts.com/2025/12/09/the-office-snoutster/

Trends – Fact or Fiction?

Let’s start by considering two well-known quotations; “Knowledge is Power” (Sir Francis Bacon), and “Thinking maketh it so” (William Shakespeare).

Many of us in our private and business lives like to keep up to date with the latest trends, be they social, economic or just for fun. We, as curious individuals, like to know the key drivers that are influencing the now, and what may happen in the future.

We typically use this knowledge to make strategic decisions, to feel part of the crowd, or perhaps to simply equip ourselves with riveting dinner table conversation content to impress and stimulate our guests and friends. So yes, our awareness of trends does indeed potentially give us command over many things and people.

But what if this knowledge, derived from our understanding and belief of a trend is based on fiction? To put it bluntly, the author fabricated the trend, and then communicated it widely through various specifically selected channels, such as social media where their unassuming followers accepted it as fact without any reason for concern or doubt? Would their belief make this trend real, particularly if many believed it so?

Just look at how various individuals or organizations (private or political) disseminate information to a target audience for their own personal gains. Many a politician, in the past and today, have done so with great success. Unfortunately, it was only with hindsight that the trend was identified as fictional folly.

Many information seekers now look to artificial intelligent (A.I.) search engines (ChatGPT, Copilot, Grok, etc) for their insights and recommendations to various trends instead of using human intellect and analysis. The A.I. output being readily accepted as fact with minimal interrogation or suspicion.  

So how do we filter the fact from the fiction before we make them so?

The answer being a combination of independent quantitative and qualitative analysis based on the collective experience of many people who collaborate, discuss, interrogate and challenge what they observe, read and understand. Yes, it takes time, but it will hopefully uncover the fiction from the fact.

However, some people happily accept the fiction and will gleefully follow the false trend like a ‘lemming that is about to fall off a cliff’. Unfortunately, it is these gullible individuals that are commonly the target of the unscrupulous.

There are many trends emerging and currently in operation today. May I suggest that we relook at the two quotations mentioned at the beginning? Maybe they should read as ‘Knowledge could be Power and We decide whether to make it so”?

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by Steven Cramer on December 4, 2025  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steven Cramer on December 4, 2025

https://thinkingfuturethoughts.com/2025/12/04/trends-fact-or-fiction/

The Virtual Innovation Librarian

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Why is it that some people just seem to have an endless plethora of brilliant ideas, whilst others struggle to generate just one? What’s the secret to their phenomenal creative success?

According to an obscure research paper soon to be published at some fictitious Boston University, the answer to these important questions is their illusive access to the highly prestigious, and most definitely secret, Virtual Innovation Librarian (VIT).

Respected sources advise that the VIT is an artificially intelligent imaginary persona that surreptitiously captures your unconscious thoughts when you are in mental state of slumber, or equivalent corporate boredom. The key requirement being, complete and total mindlessness. For those of you working in the corporate office, just think of all that untapped potential that lethargically resides in your vast employee database!

As the name suggests, the VIT is the keeper of an almost infinite number of thoughts that are meticulously categorised and indexed via the Dewey Decimal Idea Classification System (DDICS), following which, they are then permanently registered within a 4D electronic virtual depository. The DDICS classifications cover all good, and some of the not so good, ideation sparks of human life, business and various social activities from every person that has ever lived, or is currently alive, from the very first evolutionary stage when women and men decided it was time to think.

No, you don’t need a virtual library card to make a thoughtful withdrawal, the process is indeed much simpler and works via the following ingenious method:

  1. Deeply think of the problem that you want to solve.
  2. Open your mind and allow the VIT to have unrestricted access to all your inner thoughts and desires (some people call this mindfulness, meditation or just being lazy).
  3. The VIT then forages around with gusto in your cluttered mind trying to cross-match your nominated problem with all the other thoughts accumulated in the 4D electronic virtual depository.
  4. If a match is made with your problem, and no other person is wanting to also access that particular thought, you can borrow that idea and claim it as your own.
  5. However, there is a catch. These borrowed thoughts only reside in your mind for a limited time period, so if you don’t check them out and use the idea, you quickly lose the innovative solution (just like the content of a dream when you wake up, and rapidly forget the details).

Is there a charge for using this VIT ideation service?

No, it is complimentary to those individuals that recognise that innovation is an activity that needs to be continually worked, and shared freely amongst your work colleagues, thereby ensuring that there is a constant source of fresh ideas being generated for the future needs of mankind. As that saying goes, “give ideas, that you may receive ideas”.

For those businesses that don’t value innovation, well, the cost of the VIT will be well beyond your financial reserves, so may I suggest that you don’t bother thinking longer term, and just focus on enjoying today as your future is guaranteed to be rather uncertain.

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by Steven Cramer on December 5, 2018  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steven Cramer on December 5, 2018

https://thinkingfuturethoughts.com/2018/12/05/the-virtual-innovation-librarian/

That Virgin Airline Safety Announcement

Things You Notice

As I was sitting in my allocated seat in my now rather too frequent weekly Virgin flight from Melbourne to Sydney, I vaguely heard the all too familiar safety demonstration which was telling me what to do in an emergency. I, like many other frequent flyers had become rather blasé to this important message. The announcement was one that I should pay attention to, but when you have heard it so many times, the competing options of sleeping, reading a book, or examining the lipstick colour being worn by the air hostess just seems to take precedence! (By the way, yes the lipstick colour does change, the wearer apparently has the option to tailor their own lip colouring depending on what mood they are in on that day…just in case you were wondering…and yes, I did ask!)

This got me thinking. Most of us in the corporate office have a daily routine that changes quite infrequently, if at all. We tend to arrive at work at the same time, park our cars in the same allocated spot, start the day with that all too familiar long black, take a banana from the corporate fruit basket to be eaten later, and then arc up our computers as we take a big sigh in preparation as we work our way through the torrent of new emails in our inbox. Sound familiar?

So why not utilize the safety announcement protocols that are used by the airlines to deliver a message to motivate all employees at the start of the day with the right mind set? Well, with a few tailored variations of course!!

No, I’m not suggesting that the leadership team wear red lipstick, just like the Virgin air hostesses and parade around the office in an attempt to rev up the employees, but it would certainly be a unique and different spectacle that would indeed be noticed.

Instead, like on the plane, let’s focus on the office PA systems that are typically only used for practice emergency drills where that all too familiar ‘whoop, whoop’ sounds permeates through the building just when you are about to skull that freshly purchased coffee, or start that all important phone call.

So why can’t we use that corporate PA system slightly differently? Why couldn’t the CEO deliver a morning motivational message that is full of wit, anecdotes and other words of perceived cleverness? This would of course test the inspirational personality characteristics of the CEO, but this is a simple, yet creative task, that they should be able to do without even having to blink!

Other thoughts for the PA message could include; some boppy dance music (maybe The Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams are made of this’), a chapter read from a thought provoking book, some karaoke that all employees join in with, some voice impressions…the key is to have something different. Why not use the PA system at random times of the day to minimize employee complacency? Instead of the PA system, why not utilize the corporate spruiker concept where the CEO walks around the office corridors with a megaphone blasting out innovative words of motivation? I’m sure that you can think of many more ideas that break the boring corporate mold of minimal motivation!

So maybe next time you are sitting on the plane you might now listen to the safety announcement with a slightly different perspective? If not, well, make sure you have a good sleep instead!

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by Steven Cramer on July 8, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steven Cramer on July 8, 2014

https://thinkingfuturethoughts.com/2014/07/08/that-virgin-airline-safety-announcement/