But it is still one of the hardest things in the world to do well.

I beg to differ. Inovation is what lazy people do when they know there's another way to do things that involves less effort. And what adventurous people do when they know there's another way to do things that would be more fun. Bureaucracy hates innovation becuase it hates change. That's why you don't find many good innovators within bureaucracies, and why innovation seems difficult. All the good innovators are out in their garages modifying their snowboards to fly like helicopters, or figuring out a way to make their laptop computer do their laundry.