Seymour Cray, the founder of Cray Research and a legendary free spirit in the management community, was once asked -- according to a Wall Street Journal story -- to produce a one-year and a five-year plan.

The next day, he produced two three-ring binders, each containing a single sheet of paper. In the first binder, Cray had written, “Five-Year Plan: To produce the world's fastest computers.”

The sheet in the second binder read, “One-Year Plan: To complete one-fifth of the Five-Year Plan.”

That probably wouldn’t pass muster at most organizations; it might in fact be considered insubordinate. Or was it just an example of Cray's innovative nature?

Innovation is one of the buzzwords of the decade for business. Innovation is crucial to an organization’s long-term success. An article in Forbes Magazine said that CEOs believe innovation is the most important factor for growth.

A mission statement is important, but it is just a first step. The goals of the organization should constantly be reinforced with an eye toward innovative processes that will help achieve those goals.

If you want more imagination and innovation in your workplace, you have to give people space: physical space in which to work uninterrupted and creative space to develop and test ideas without interference.

The best way to motivate employees to become more creative and innovative is by developing job descriptions that focus on what they can do instead of what they cannot. Set clear expectations for innovation. Talk about the kind of ideas you want to see, and what you don’t. Clarify deadlines and requirements for everyone.

Stretch people’s skills and imagination by challenging them to excel. Give them a jolt from time to time -- a tough problem or a tight deadline that forces them to think differently.

Allow people to take chances and fail. That doesn’t mean being reckless, but being willing to try something new, even if it’s not guaranteed to succeed.

Bring a wide mixture of personalities and skills to your team. The more exposure to new ways of thinking people have, the better their ideas will be.

A high-performing team thrives on creativity and innovation. If the status quo is a default position, or if it’s just easier to rely on what’s worked in the past, chances are the results will not reflect anything close to innovation. If you aren’t asking these questions, you could be missing golden opportunities.

How do you define innovation? You don’t want to be too open-ended, but at the same time you should avoid unnecessarily limiting the scope of ideas. Just be sure that innovation has a clear, positive effect on how to get things done.

What are your goals? Let everyone know what you’re looking for. You want to launch a brand-new product every year, for example.

How do you measure success? If you can’t track the impact of innovation, no one will take it seriously. Maybe you want 10 percent of your revenues to come from products that are less than five years old. Or maybe you want to cut your energy bill by 20 percent in the next six months.

How do you encourage innovation? Analyze your process for generating, testing and implementing new ideas. What obstacles does your team face? How could you streamline things?

Do you have a pipeline? Ideally, innovation should happen all the time. Your team should have new ideas coming in and being tested on a constant basis. If that’s not happening, dig deep to determine what you can do to spur more creativity.

Do you have an end game? You can debate, test and adjust your ideas, but your team needs to be able to commit to a specific direction or conclusion. Determine how you will decide which projects to support and when enough is enough. You have to know when to leave the experimental phase or you’ll never get the results your organization needs.

Elias Howe, who for years had been trying to invent a practical sewing machine, fell asleep one night and had a nightmare. He dreamed that soldiers had captured him and were threatening to run him through with their spears. Howe noticed that the warriors' spears all had holes through them at their pointed ends. When he suddenly awoke he realized the idea that would lead to a perfected sewing machine: use a needle with a hole not through its base or middle but through its tip.

Mackay’s Moral: Innovation is a decision that successful organizations make every day to ensure successful tomorrows.

If you’ve ever had to deal with the thoughtless behavior of someone, you’ll appreciate this story about the great composer and pianist Franz Liszt.

The virtuoso musician once found himself at odds with a very important member of his audience. The czar of Russia, Nicholas I, made a late entrance during Liszt’s concert. Even after being seated, the czar continued to talk loudly with members of his entourage. Liszt realized that Nicholas had no intention of ending his discourse, so he stopped playing and bowed his head.

Noticing the silence, Nicholas dispatched one of his aides to find out why the pianist was no longer performing.

“Music herself should be silent when Nicholas speaks,” Liszt replied.

After that, Liszt was able to finish his recital with the czar’s full attention.

Poor manners are difficult to navigate around in most arenas. No matter what your rank or position, there is no excuse for rudeness. Bad manners are bad form.

At work, where many of us spend a large share of our waking hours, bad manners are bad business. Good manners build good relationships.

The key to a good relationship at work can be as simple as saying “please” and ”thank you,” and asking people how their children are or how their spouses are, according to an article in the Harvard Business Review. Manners are the lubricating oil of any organization -- or any society, for that matter.

Good manners are not phony or forced. They are a habit that has been developed and nurtured so that they are an automatic response. Good manners are not an invitation to let others take advantage of you, either. Rather, they provide you with the confidence and responses that will allow you to take the high road no matter how nasty the other party gets.

Good manners also provide a leg up when it’s time to find a new job, whether it’s starting your career or moving up the ladder.

Getting your foot in the door is hard enough, so don’t let your manners slam the door on you. Looking for a job has always required impeccable behavior on the part of the job-seeker. According to etiquette consultant Jodi R. R. Smith (mannersmith.com), it’s important that job-seekers not overlook propriety in their search. Here are a few of Smith’s tips:

-- Be professional, especially when communicating electronically. There are a lot of people out there crafting outrageous emails when they are inquiring about job openings, Smith says. Don’t relax the old rules of job-hunting and interviewing just because you’re using modern modes of communication. As Smith says, an email that reads, "Dude, so what is this job about?" just isn’t going to cut it.

-- Have an error-free resume ready to go. When a recruiter calls, you should be able to email your resume to him or her while you’re speaking.

-- Make sure you have a professional-sounding voicemail message on whatever phone number you give to recruiters. You don’t want a potential interviewer to call you and get a long, silly message you’ve designed for your friends’ amusement.

-- Smile and be pleasant. Your disposition makes the first impression on interviewers. Extend kindness to everyone you meet, including receptionists and anyone else who may not be involved in the interview process.

Interpersonal relations will always make a difference. Displaying good manners will never hurt you, so don’t be afraid to be nice. You can still be funny, serious, self-confident and determined.

The old adage still holds true: You only get one chance to make a good first impression.

A man was seated on the bus having an animated conversation with someone via cellphone. He fumed. He swore. He shouted and swore a lot more. The other passengers dared not look at him for fear of being on the receiving end of his ire.

“I need to get off here!” he shouted as he raced to the front of the bus and disembarked.

“Excuse me, sir,” the bus driver said to the man, “you left something behind.”

The man stood outside of the bus checking his pockets. He then asked, “What did I leave?”

“A very bad impression,” the bus driver replied as he closed the door and drove away.

Mackay’s Moral: Good manners are never a bad idea.

A famous art professor died and went to heaven. At the pearly gates, the professor asked St. Peter, “Sir, I spent most of my life on Earth studying great art, but I have a question that has puzzled me for 30 years: Who was the greatest painter in history?”

St. Peter pointed to a nearby cloud. “See that woman right over there? She’s the one.”

The professor frowned. “But I knew that woman on Earth! She ran the cafeteria at the university where I taught! How could she have been the greatest painter in history?”

St. Peter shook his head sadly. “She could have been, if she ever picked up a brush and tried to paint.”

I suspect that woman had been good at her job, but did she reach her real potential? Did she follow her passion? Was she content to let her dreams evaporate?

Those are tough questions to answer, especially when you consider that most of us find something we are reasonably good at where we can earn a living and leave it at that. But is that the legacy you want to leave?

What do you want to be when you grow up? Good news: There is rarely just one answer. I am of the opinion that we all have tremendous potential if only we allow ourselves the freedom to try. The problem starts when we box in our futures according to what we studied in school or family expectations or staying in a job that doesn’t challenge us to grow and flourish.

But you are ultimately responsible for your own success, in both your career and personal lives. What do you really hope to accomplish in your life? And do you have a plan for getting there?

It starts with figuring out your purpose in life. As lofty as that sounds, I assure you, it’s not rocket science. I’ve shared my story often: At a young age, I imagined myself owning a factory and being an entrepreneur. I had to fill in a lot of blanks along the way and learn some very difficult lessons, but in my heart I knew it was worth it.

Ask yourself some helpful questions. What excites you? What do you want to learn? What do you love to do? That last question is especially important, because as I like to say, find something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life.

Then develop your personal mission statement. In 25 words or less, define what makes you uniquely qualified to achieve your dream. Say it out loud every day to build your confidence and commitment.

Think about what you have already accomplished and what steps you need to take both short- and long-term. Do you need to learn new skills, line up funding, work with a business partner?

Are you building a network of contacts that can help and advise you as necessary? You need to connect with people in many fields and professions.

Define what success will look like. Will you recognize it when you achieve it? Are you prepared to change your definition as circumstances change?

The cafeteria worker may not have been able to give up her job and benefits to paint full time, but she could have pursued art as a hobby. Starting small is a practical way to test whether you can achieve your dream.

An Irish missionary shared this inspirational message in a London church:

“Consider the walnut: If you compare a walnut with some of the beautiful and exciting things which grow on our planet, it does not seem to be a marvelous creation. It is common, rough, not particularly attractive, and certainly not valuable in any monetary sense. Besides, it is small. Its growth is limited by the hard shell which surrounds it. The shell from which it never escapes during its lifetime.

“Of course, that’s the wrong way to judge a walnut. Break one open and look inside. See how the walnut has grown to fill every nook and cranny available to it? It had no say in the size or the shape of the shell but, given those limitations, it achieved its full potential of growth.

“How lucky we will be if, like the walnut, we are found to blossom and bloom in every crevice of the life that is given to us. Take heart. If one nut can do it, so can we all!”

Mackay’s Moral: The only person who can limit your potential is you.