Jason Fox (for those outside the UK) has become most well known for the reality quasi-military training programme 'SAS: Who Dares Wins', and has since capitalised on this with a couple of other TV programmes and inevitable books. Whilst his first book focused on his career in the Marines and elite Special Boat Service, this book is more about taking life lessons from both his military training and combat experience, focusing on resilience and how to cope when the proverbial hits the fan.

Although this book was a gift and probably not what I'd have chosen myself, it still ticked a few boxes. Firstly, I've always had an interest in the military. Whilst this may have begun from the most shallow of starting points (seeing lots of cute chaps in army fatigues in NI during the Troubles when I was a teenager with raging hormones), it developed into a serious interest to the point where I almost considered the RAF as a career. Naturally I was totally self-deluded and it would have been like Goldie Hawn in the movie 'Private Benjamin' had I stuck with it, but thankfully unlike Private Benjamin I was able to go to an open day before signing up where I discovered that they required you to do actual exercise outside at all times of day and night for many weeks, and that was the end of that. The military interest is still there, however, and I particularly enjoy army documentaries where they show recruits experiencing hell on earth during initial training whilst I sit in my slippers eating Pringles and thanking my lucky stars I went to that open day.

The other reason this was an interesting gift is that I enjoy books on business leadership (although I've a strict rule these days of only reading them occasionally, otherwise it feels like work never stops), and in this book Fox tries to create some lessons for the workplace or simply for every day life.

The first part of the book on resilience interested me more than the second part, which was a lot about mental toolkits when you're seriously up against it. I went through some hugely difficult stuff in work a few years ago which left me pretty traumatised for a long time afterwards, and I was hoping for some enlightenment around how I could have avoided that but I'm not sure Foxy delivered much with his toolkits beyond what already feels like common sense when you're not in a stress situation.

The chapter on Commando spirit interested me the most, and I can see how it could be really effective if you got your team committed to the same principles within the workplace - courage, determination, unselfishness (team first, self last) and cheerfulness in the face of adversity. That being said, I've a feeling my team might think I've totally lost the plot if I try to introduce it in my work.

All in all, there were some interesting learnings from the techniques the British army use to keep their elite soldiers at the peak of their capabilities at all times, and I enjoyed this more than expected. It's not life-changing stuff and it feels like Fox is pedalling a lot of what he's been told in therapy over the years, but it's an interesting enough read given his unique career.

3.5 stars - some particularly good nuggets to take away on teamwork and lesson learning. ( )