The Hewlett-Packard Company was famously founded in a one-car garage by William Hewlett and Dave Packard. It has become one of the world's most innovative and successful technology companies, but it's never lost sight of its founders' original vision.

According to legend, Hewlett and Packard operated under a strict set of rules, which were later put into words by an HP CEO:

-- Believe you can change the world.

-- Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever.

-- Know when to work alone and when to work together.

-- Share tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues.

-- No politics. No bureaucracy.

-- The customer defines a job well done.

-- Radical ideas are not bad ideas.

-- Invent different ways of working.

-- Make a contribution every day. If it doesn't contribute, it doesn't leave the garage.

-- Believe that together we can do anything.

-- Invent.

That about sums up any doubts Hewlett and Packard had about what they were capable of doing! About the only rule that seems to be missing is "reinvent the wheel."

Innovation seems to move at the speed of light in business and education. New products and methods pop up almost every day. Your phone/computer/television is outdated as soon as you take it out of the box because of new systems constantly being developed. Your car can essentially drive itself. Your house can tell you whether the lights are on when you are across the ocean. Innovation affects every phase of our lives.

I'm way beyond wondering why I didn't think of that myself -- I'm just grateful that someone had the courage to tackle a seemingly impossible idea that made my life much easier.

Innovation is central to every organization's growth. As a manager, it's important to develop an environment where it will flourish. If you are working on your own, give yourself the gift of time to let your plans simmer.

Not all innovations have to be technical or expensive. Let me share a couple of innovations that we now take for granted.

When automobiles first came into common use, there were few roads, and none of them were striped to denote lanes. When Dr. June McCarroll, who lived in the California desert, made house calls, she couldn't tell what side of the desert road she was on, especially at night. She bought a brush and a can of white paint, and painted a line down the center of the road as a guide to other travelers. The California Highway Commission adopted her innovation for all the roads in California.

A Florida citrus grower lost 85 percent of his trees in a tropical hurricane. Instead of being discouraged, he formulated a plan. Before the storm, his trees had been planted far apart because land was cheap and he had plenty of space. But when he replanted after the storm, he put them close together, almost like a hedge, to protect each other. His yield was twice what it was before the storm destroyed most of his trees.

Where do you find inspiration for innovative ideas? Some days, ideas pop into your head without any effort at all. Other days you probably feel like you're digging for them at the bottom of the ocean. Don't get frustrated. When you are looking to develop a new concept, there are some steps that will make it easier.

-- Gather information. Do some research into whatever you're trying to develop. Don't worry about solutions right now; just immerse yourself in the subject. Put your concept into simple language that won't limit your scope.

-- Mix everything together. Look for underlying assumptions, common concepts and roads not taken. Don't force any ideas, but take notes on anything that stands out.

-- Brainstorm. Invest some time in generating more ideas from the information you've processed. Let ideas flow freely, because sometimes parts of ideas can blend together to lead to an even better result.

-- Take risks. New ideas usually involve failure. There's no guarantee that everything you try will succeed, but sometimes you have to see what doesn't work in order to see what will be successful.

-- Share your idea. Run it past someone you trust for feedback. An outside perspective can help you shape and mold your idea into something you can put into action.

-- Expect some frustration. Remember the adage: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." You will often stub your toe, maybe even fall flat on your face, before you are satisfied with your results. Innovation isn't instant -- it can take years.

Mackay's Moral: Bright ideas light the way.

We take many everyday items for granted, but when these items were introduced to the market, they were anything but ordinary. Have you ever wondered how you got along without a specific product, a must-have invention -- or the latest version of your smartphone?

Somewhere between necessity being the mother of invention and pure creative genius, all kinds of useful products have come into our lives. Were their creators inspired by a burning desire to get rich? Did they have years of schooling or technical training? Were they part of huge corporations with unlimited research and development budgets?

No.

They just let their creativity take over. And we benefit from their inventive ways to overcome life's little challenges. Consider these items, born of necessity, in the not-so-distant past.

Josephine Dickson, an inexperienced cook, often burned and cut herself back in 1920. Her husband, Earle Dickson, was a Johnson & Johnson employee, and got plenty of practice in hand bandaging. Out of concern for his wife's safety, he began to prepare bandages ahead of time. By combining a piece of surgical tape and a piece of gauze, he fashioned the first crude adhesive strip bandage.

At 15 years old, Chester Greenwood's head was cold one December day in 1873. To protect his ears while ice skating, he found a piece of wire, and with his grandmother's help, padded the ends. In the beginning, his friends laughed at him. However, when they realized that he was able to stay outside skating long after they had gone inside, freezing, they stopped laughing. Instead, they began to ask Chester to make ear covers for them, too. In my home state of Minnesota, earmuffs are standard winter equipment.

During the hot summer of 1912, Clarence Crane, a chocolate candy manufacturer, found himself facing a dilemma. When he tried to ship his chocolates to candy shops in other cities, they melted into gooey blobs. His customers didn't want to deal with the mess and deferred their orders until cooler weather. Mr. Crane needed to find a substitute for the melted chocolates if he wanted to keep his customers. He experimented with hard candy, which wouldn't melt during shipment. Using a machine designed for making medicinal pills, Crane produced small, circular candies with a hole in the middle. And that is how Life Savers were born.

The term "Frisbee" did not always refer to the flying plastic disks that have spawned a variety of games. More than 100 years ago, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, William Russell Frisbie owned the Frisbie Pie Company and delivered his pies locally. All of his pies were baked in the same type of 10-inch round tin with a raised edge, wide brim and "Frisbie's Pies" embossed on the bottom. Playing catch with the tins soon became a popular local sport. However, the tins were slightly dangerous when a toss was missed. It became the Yale University custom to yell "Frisbie" when throwing a pie tin. In the '40s, when plastic emerged, the pie-tin game was recognized as a manufacturable and marketable product. Now Frisbee is a registered trademark of Wham-O Toys.

All those inventions started innocently enough, without great expectations. That kind of creativity will continue, with or without corporate backing and deadlines to bring a product to market.

But there are constant demands in companies to come up with newer, better, shinier, more in-demand products. As companies try to stay afloat in a choppy economy, employees are being pushed for new ideas. Managers would be wise to consider the studies conducted by Teresa Amabile, a professor at Harvard Business School and head of its Entrepreneurial Management Unit. She has explored creativity for nearly 30 years, and her comprehensive research has uncovered some myth-defying facts:

-- Money and rewards don't necessarily inspire creativity.

-- Tight deadlines and pressure to produce don't foster innovation.

-- Competition doesn't induce creativity.

-- Neither sadness nor fear fuel creative breakthroughs.

In order for creativity to blossom, workers need to feel deeply engaged in their projects, skilled enough to accomplish them, and free of negative influences -- unnecessary distractions, politics, resource roadblocks and unwarranted critical feedback.

I might add that management needs to be open to ideas from all sources -- not just the so-called "creative" departments. We all have a streak of creativity in us. Remember that the next time you need a Band-Aid or enjoy a Life Saver!

Mackay's Moral: A little spark can lead to a blazing success.

A woman received a phone call at work, letting her know that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left the office and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication, but when she got back to her car, she discovered that she'd locked her keys inside.

Desperate, she started to pray: "Dear God, please help me get back in my car so I can help my daughter."

Just then, a man pulled up on a motorcycle. He had a long beard and his arms were covered with tattoos. He asked what the matter was, and the tearful mother told him.

"Don't worry," the biker said. "I can get inside the car." He went into the drugstore and came out with a coat hanger. In minutes, he had the door open.

"Oh, thank you!" the woman cried. "I prayed for someone to help me, and God sent me the kindest man in the world!" Embarrassed, the man took a step backward. "I'm not actually a good person, ma'am. In fact, I just got out of prison last week for stealing cars."

The woman looked up toward heaven. "Thank you, God, for sending me a professional!"

Whenever I need to get something done and I realize I don't have the skills for the job, I hire a professional. Maybe you need help designing a marketing piece or a website. Or you are writing a book and need a professional editor. How about public speaking or planning a special event? You will save yourself many headaches and mistakes if you hire a true professional.

After all, you want the best results possible. And most of the time, the payoff far exceeds the expense.

Professionals are knowledgeable, experienced, focused and, most importantly, they are cool under pressure and used to dealing with the unexpected. They are not infallible and still make mistakes, but they are better equipped to deal with them.

We all have specific skills, but we can't know everything. There is no glory in trying to fix a problem if your efforts only make matters worse. You think you will save time and money? It's far less expensive to swallow your pride than to choke on arrogance.

If I want to learn a new skill, I hire a professional coach to teach it to me. I want to practice the right concepts, so I won't get it wrong. "Practice makes perfect" should really be: "Perfect practice makes perfect."

Legendary Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry explains, "A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be."

Over my lifetime, I've had numerous professional coaches help me develop whatever natural talent I may have. I understand that I will never be as good as the coaches I've hired, but I can surely improve on my limited abilities. So I go to the people who know what they are doing.

I've hired professional coaches for public speaking, writing, ideas/creativity, foreign languages, running marathons, golf, tennis, water- and downhill skiing, swimming, dancing, bowling, boxing, scuba diving, ice skating, basketball and many others.

I'm not spending a single penny; I'm making an investment in myself. And, believe me, it comes back tenfold.

Many times over the years, when I've purchased a new electronic gadget, I've hired the person who sold me the device and paid them to come to my office to teach me how to use it. Technology can be difficult for me, so I hire a pro to teach me. Does that seem frivolous? Not to me. The sooner I can be up and running, the more efficiently I can work.

The old saying "Time is money," is so true. Why waste your time and money when so much help is available to enable you to save both time and money in the long run?

I've been on the other side of the equation too. I've been honored to be a mentor, usually not paid, to help aspiring salespeople and entrepreneurs hone their skills. It's so rewarding to pass along professional knowledge and experiences. If I can steer someone away from making a monumental mistake, I'm satisfied. I want to demonstrate the highest level of professionalism so that they understand the importance of seeking the best advice.

Mackay's Moral: Admitting your own weaknesses is a sign of strength.