Creative ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. Those ideas often involve taking a risk or challenging conventional thinking. And that can be daunting to those who are perfectly satisfied with the status quo.

But in my view, creativity is a trait that should be celebrated and encouraged. Innovation never happened by supporting the same old, same old.

We can’t imagine living today without the benefits reaped from some bold, creative thinking. Fortunately, determined innovators prevailed, often in the face of mass indifference or mockery. But here are a few prime examples of what might not have happened if folks listened to the naysayers.

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us,” according to a Western Union internal memo dated 1876.

Silent film star Charlie Chaplin said, “Moving pictures need sound as much as Beethoven symphonies need lyrics.”

An engineer at IBM in 1968 commented on the microchip, “But what is it good for?”

The aeronautical engineering department of Cambridge University's response to Frank Whittle, after viewing his pioneering designs for the jet engine, “Very interesting, Whittle, my boy, but it will never work.”

“Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night,” said pioneering American movie executive Darryl F. Zanuck.

Phil Wrigley, one of the owners of the Chicago Cubs, said about night baseball in 1935, “Just a fad, a passing fancy.” (In 1988, the Cubs at last started playing night games.)

“The personal computer will fall flat on its face in business,” said Ken Olsen, president of Digital Equipment.

Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express, was said to have received the following response from his Yale professor on a paper outlining his idea for an overnight delivery service: “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.”

Beware if you hear yourself uttering these statements. They are the most likely to kill creativity:

-- It's not in the budget.

-- The boss will never go for it.

-- Great idea! Let's form a committee to tackle it.

-- It will never work.

-- That's against our policy.

-- Who will we get to do it?

-- Let's think about it for a while.

-- Let's discuss it some other time.

-- Why not leave well enough alone?

-- It's too late to fix it now.

-- It's too soon to fix it now.

-- We have done it this way for so many years, and we still make a profit.

-- Why fix it if it isn't broken?

-- We tried it five years ago and it didn't work.

-- That's not how we do things around here.

-- That's the kind of idea that cost your predecessor her job.

-- It will take a long time to research this idea.

-- That's not my job.

-- The competition already does it that way.

-- The competition doesn't do it that way.

-- Let's let the competition try it first and see what happens.

-- That isn't in our job descriptions.

-- If we do it, they'll wonder why we didn't do it sooner.

-- It will create more work for the rest of us.

-- Sounds like a good idea ... Let's run it by legal. (OK, so this actually might be necessary.)

Mackay’s Moral: Don’t be afraid to be creative -- be afraid not to be creative.

Joe, a golfer, joined three people at a golf course to make up the foursome. The three friends teed off, but when Joe hit his first shot, it went directly into the trees. The trio suggested he play a second ball in case he couldn’t find his first one, but Joe shrugged them off and went out to search for his ball.

After 10 minutes, Joe couldn’t find his ball, but he insisted on looking some more. Finally, one of the other golfers said, “Joe, we’re holding everyone up. Why don’t you just drop another ball and take a penalty stroke?”

“All right.” Joe turned and headed for the pro shop.

“Where are you going?” the other golfers asked.

“I have to buy another ball.”

If you’ve ever played golf, you know Joe had a case of misguided optimism. But I give him a lot of credit for believing in his ability. Even the most optimistic golfers carry a few extra balls, just in case.

As the old saying goes, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

I’ll take optimism over pessimism every day of the week. I’ve discovered that it’s just as easy to look for the good things in life as the bad. If you look at the bright side of life you will never develop eyestrain. In other words, thinking positive has no negative.

When I am hiring -- especially for sales -- I seek out optimists. Why? A pessimist has no starter; an optimist has no brakes.

American psychologist Martin Seligman, working at the University of Pennsylvania at the time, studied the sales prowess of optimists and equally talented pessimists.

Metropolitan Life developed a test called the Seligman Attributional Style Questionnaire to sort the optimists from the pessimists when hiring sales personnel. Seligman found that optimists outsold pessimists by 20 percent the first year and by 50 percent the following year.

In his book, “Learned Optimism,” Seligman lists many studies that report optimists are healthier; less likely to give up; more successful in school, on the job and on the playing field; have more successful relationships; and are depressed less often, and for shorter periods of time.

Mary Kay Mueller, in her book, “Taking Care of Me: The Habits of Happiness,” shows how optimism is the best policy. How you look at life can drastically affect how much you enjoy your life. If you have a positive attitude, then you will be considered an optimistic person. If you have a negative attitude, then you will be considered a pessimistic person. Optimists expect the best out of life. Mueller believes an optimistic attitude can be learned, as do I.

She lists the tenets that optimism is based on:

-- Bad things do happen in life, but they are temporary.

-- Bad things in life are limited in scope. (They’re small or insignificant.)

-- People have control over their environments.

She also lists the tenets that pessimism is based on:

-- Good things in life are temporary.

-- Good things in life are limited in scope. (They’re small or insignificant.)

-- People have no control over their environments.

Optimists help create some of the good they come to expect, so they are probably right more than not -- and they don’t waste time worrying about what they’re not right about.

An old saying breaks it down to this: “The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole.”

This story is a perfect illustration.

David and Steve were friends, but they could never quite agree on anything. “Your problem is you’re a pessimist,” David said one day when they were fishing. “You can’t see the bright side of anything!”

“Oh yeah?” Steve asked. “Prove it!”

“Watch this.” David’s dog Spot was in the boat with them. David snapped his fingers. “Spot! Go back to shore and fetch me a can of beer!”

Spot carefully climbed over the edge of the boat. Then, miraculously, he simply walked across the surface of the water, opened the friends’ beer cooler with his snout, and carried a can of beer back in his teeth -- all without getting wet.

“Now what do you say about that?” David asked.

Steve shook his head. “A dog that smart, and he can’t even swim.”

Mackay’s Moral: Optimists don’t care whether the glass is half-full or half-empty -- they know they can refill the glass!

The Duke of Wellington, the brilliant British military leader who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, was a great commander, but he was a difficult man to serve under. He was a demanding perfectionist who complimented his subordinates only on rare occasions.

In retirement, Wellington was asked by a visitor what, if anything, he would do differently if he had his life to live over again.

The old duke thought for a moment and then said, “I’d give people I worked with more praise.”

Can you tell I was a history major in college?

There’s a lot of power in praising people. British novelist Arnold Bennett had a publisher who boasted often about the outstanding work of his assistant. Waiting on an appointment one day at the publisher’s office, Bennett approached her with a smile and asked: “Your boss claims you’re extremely efficient. What is your secret?”

“It’s not my secret,” the assistant said. “It’s his.”

She explained that the publisher never failed to acknowledge and appreciate every task she performed, no matter how routine or seemingly insignificant. Because of his attention and praise, she took great pains to deliver good work all the time.

When you sincerely praise someone -- and there has to be truth in that praise -- something amazing often takes place. Something starts to grow and change in the other person, and your relationship often becomes deeper and more fulfilling as a result.

My good friend, the late leadership guru Warren Bennis, said: “In experiment after experiment, the workers who thought they were doing better did better.

“In one experiment, 10 people were given puzzles to solve. They were all given fictitious results. Half were told they had done well. The other half were told they had done poorly. They were then given a second test, and this time they all did as well or as poorly as they were told on the first test.”

With all the praise and recognition employees seem to crave, you think it wouldn’t matter where or how you give it. But it matters a lot. Managers who don’t bother to get to know their employees on a personal level will not be successful at this task. A shy individual may cringe if recognized publicly; others may take great pride in being honored in front of their peers. Managers must also avoid the appearance of favoritism by considering how much public praise they give the same people time and again.

So, should you go easy on the praise to avoid offending someone? No, you should instead learn enough about your employees to be able to tailor your praise to their situations.

Everyone likes a pat on the back and a hearty “well done.” Making praise a truly effective motivational tool requires a little planning. The purpose of workplace praise is to improve productivity and reinforce positive behavior. Keep these notions in mind as you hand out the compliments.

-- Be specific. Don’t just offer cliches or platitudes. For instance, if you’re pleased with how Susan satisfied a complaining customer, don’t just say, “You handled that well.” Give some detail that tells her exactly what she did right: “You were wise to let the customer vent his anger and then offer good, constructive solutions.”

-- Be honest. Employees know when you’re faking it. Don’t offer praise unless you can do it sincerely. Passing out superficial praise can hurt your credibility instead of improving performance and morale.

-- Be timely. Praise loses its impact if it’s not delivered close to the event. Don’t save it for the monthly luncheon. Tell the person what you appreciate right away. And take your time. Don’t rush away once you’ve delivered your message. Let the other person enjoy it for a while.

-- Be balanced. Like anything else, praise loses its effectiveness if it’s overused. On the other hand, its power diminishes if it’s underused. Give extra attention to new employees, those who seem to lack confidence or team members testing the waters with new assignments. Focus on those making an extra effort, accomplishing a difficult task or exhibiting behavior you want others to emulate.

-- Be encouraging. Praise makes people feel good, and it also reinforces behavior. Express your hope that the person will continue doing praiseworthy work. Thank the person for his or her efforts. This helps send the message that you’ll like to see the person’s performance keep improving along the same lines.

Mackay’s Moral: Well-deserved praise improves the best of days.