Question: So, in reading this site, it seems that the shop in which I work does a lot of things wrong and some things right. How can I improve the code that I work with from my colleagues? The only thing I can think of is to lead by example - start using Boost, etc. Any other thoughts?

Answer: 
Code reviews are the best way I found to improve code quality overall. Reviewing code from different individuals helping each other increases general awareness of different techniques and help propagate best practices. Hire a person more experienced than you are is also a good tool but it is a bit more tedious to implement.
Although this probably isn't as direct of an answer, I recommend you pick up the book [Code Complete](http://www.cc2e.com/). I find it to be the best resource for learning how to be a better programmer. If you read through the whole book and understand what it talks about, you'll really learn how to better yourself, and your code.