All posts tagged life

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/

Is it time for an ‘Age Coup?’

Age. It’s a complex thing, the importance of which seems to change frequently depending on where you are in your life.

It is said that age is just a number; so why in the Western world do we commonly characterise everyone according to their year of birth? Sure, there are many sound, well researched legal and practical aspects that both should and need to be adhered to, but why is age such an important factor in the workforce?

When you are at Primary School, those who you knew in High School seemed very worldly and sophisticated. You saw your parents as old and out of touch with the worldly and social needs of your own generation, not to mention your grandparents, who fell into the absolutely ancient classification.

But consider how your age perspectives changed when you yourself entered the workforce for the first time. All of a sudden you saw your parents and others with an increased number of years under their belts as wise and possessing a valued experience, and some you even gave esteemed oracle status.

In the business world, people in their early twenties are typically deemed to be naïve and lack the requisite knowledge, whereas people in their sixties or seventies are seen as being ready for retirement and quickly put out to the vast unemployment pasture.

I believe it’s high time for a long overdue ’age coup‘ where an individual’s mindset and willingness to learn and/or mentor those around them should be the main criteria, instead of how old they are on their employment contract.

To accomplish this, we need to redefine the term ‘age’ and replace it with a combination of a willingness to learn and to share experiences, regardless of whether obtained in the workplace, or via life’s complex journey.

However, to do this there needs to be a mindset change within the corporate world, particularly with in HR where age is commonly seen as just a start or finish date of employment, not a potential indication of longer-term value.

Yes, it’s time for an ‘age coup’ as there are many willing participants keen, able and wanting to join the revolution.

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by Steven Cramer on December 2, 2025  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steven Cramer on December 2, 2025

https://thinkingfuturethoughts.com/2025/12/02/its-time-for-an-age-coup/

A new career with noise

I’m learning the trumpet.

These few innocent words create a dreaded audible fear in your family, neighbours and those that live in your street. Why, apparently it as something to do with the noise, which is unpredictable, loud and makes a cow’s mooing sound more attractive to the listeners ears.

Yes, I will make mistakes, and I do sound a tad awful, but I am told that with practice, persistence and a willingness to learn from my errors, I should improve. However, time will be the judge, as will my wife’s patience and honesty.

Recently my role was made redundant after many years of service which was totally unexpected. The rational, an organizational restructure. The result, unemployment.

One could wallow and say “why me”, but then again, it’s just like learning the trumpet. The first step is to decide that it’s time to try something new and to make the most of this different and unknown life opportunity. Not everyone may decide that a musical instrument is the next move, some may seek a new career path, play golf, lawn bowls, travel, retire or go part-time. Me, I’m yet to decide, maybe I will do all of these activities, however, I suspect that being a concert trumpet player may be slightly out of my immediate reach?

But I do have the objective to make some hullabaloo, and to have fun doing it and to learn a new life skill, regardless of how unpleasant it may be in the short term.

Some may say that age could be a barrier, but I view it differently. I just see experience and a knowledge that can mentor and train those with less years in the corporate world, just like my trumpet teacher that is crafting a new skill in my personal repertoire.

Yes, I’m going to make a raucous commotion, one that can be heard and distinctly recognized as my unique and innovative persona, and maybe get a tiny bit better at the trumpet along the way….

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by Steven Cramer on November 2, 2025  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steven Cramer on November 2, 2025

https://thinkingfuturethoughts.com/2025/11/02/a-new-career-with-noise/

Ageless Innovation

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We start from an early age exploring our surroundings where we learn new experiences on a continuous basis. Some of these learnings are positive, others may be negative, but through each individual encounter our foundation of knowledge increases.

Even as we grow older, we confront different environments and challenges which ensure that we are constantly adapting to our changing surroundings, just like our physical appearance alters with increasing years. However, there is a common constant in place throughout this learning and ageing process, that being the ongoing linkage of ideas where one thought is added to another thought to build a larger and ever expanding idea base.

To demonstrate this process, let us consider one of the most used building blocks that is familiar to all of us, that of a single brick of Lego® (“one idea”). To this brick we add another brick (another “idea”). We then add more bricks which are accumulated with time (“as we age”), where the process continues until we have a vast collection of bricks (or “ideas”). We could just leave the bricks in a large random pile, but we don’t. We join these bricks to make various shapes which we continually modify based on our experience and desires.

This simple analogy demonstrates that what it means to age where the concept of idea innovation becomes ageless. As we get older, we add our accumulated ideas and thoughts into an assembly of activities that are relevant for each stage in our life. The key is to keep finding new “bricks”, not to sit back and be impressed with what we have “built”, but to keep on building!

 

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by Steven Cramer on September 21, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steven Cramer on September 21, 2013

https://thinkingfuturethoughts.com/2013/09/21/ageless-innovation/