I've just finished reading Chris Hadfield's An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth and its one of the first books in a long time thats genuinely made me think.

Its full of brilliant advice on how to succeed and really shows the importance of teamwork and how far a supportive environment with colleagues really can take you. Sure, in our daily lives, a colleague's actions couldn't cause or save us from death, but it really was a great insight into how fostering an environment of support amongst peers can take you all further than if you had all pitted yourself against the other from the off.

Its also full of gems like "aim to be a zero".  I love this idea and Chris explains it brilliantly. The idea is everyone is ranked as +1 (contributes positively to the team), a 0 (doesn't add but equally doesn't take away from the team) or -1 (a nightmare and makes everyones life harder). He says that people come in pitching straight for +1 but end up being -1 as they usually don't have the knowledge and experience and bumble in thinking they know more than everyone and in doing so usually make it all harder for everyone else, especially if silly mistakes are made. In a new situation, aim to be a 0, accept you don't know it all and are there to learn and in doing so, you won't make it harder for everyone else and will actually take it all on. Eventually, when you do have that knowledge and experience you will be a +1. I think this is great advice and I'll definitely try this!