Being territorial over ideas can corrupt creativity, so play nice! Your professional livelihood depends on it.
The battle between collaboration and credit in the workplace is an awkward one. On one hand, companies are well aware that there’s wisdom in crowds—with the ubiquitous open office plan, meant to facilitate worker interaction, as the unfortunate testament to this realization. On the other hand, employees are well aware that if they don’t get personal credit for an assignment, it becomes harder to gain distance from the corporate pack.