There’s always someone who succeeds in pulling off cheery optimism and capability in a crisis without making other people feel inadequate, isn’t there?

While everyone else is rushing around in a blind panic fending off irate customers, dealing with technology gremlins and wrestling with impossible deadlines brought forward, they are the ones just calmly and sensibly getting on with it and giving everyone else the confidence to do the same. Perhaps that person is normally you, in which case, keep up the good work, your company needs you!

Seriously, there is a saying that your bank balance is the average of the bank balances of the five people you spend the most time with and that seems to apply equally to your success at work. If you take care to hang around with the people who consistently turn in a great job – and seem to enjoy doing it – then some of that magic can’t help but rub off on you too.

It doesn’t have to be a boss or someone a couple of rungs further up the ladder than you, but if you are looking to progress yourself that won’t do any harm. Maybe your company doesn’t have an official mentor scheme but who says you can’t decide to choose your own mentors?

After all, if someone has worked out the secret of success, why not benefit from noticing their shortcuts? And even if promotion isn’t your goal, seeking out the shining stars and watching how they do that voodoo that they do is likely to have a positive impact on your own job satisfaction if nothing else.

So go on. Make someone’s day. Tell them you admire their attitude and ask them for the secret to their success. Oh, I know it’s not very British and at first they might think you are making a joke at their expense. But I guarantee when they realise you are serious that you will do will be doing yourself a real favour.

Do you dare to be different?!