However, innovation is just as important in those industries as well.

There is a great story in the New York Times about the people that make food commercials (found via John Scalzi’s blog). The whole story is worth reading, but the bit that Scalzi quotes is notable:

“I make my living basically taking food and painting a reality with it,” says Mr. Somoroff, leaning back in a chair in his office as the team preps another set-up. “And if I succeed in a given moment, you’re going to go buy that dish because you’re going to identify with the experience we’ve created. To do that with something as banal as food is the challenge. I mean, it’s easy to go out and shoot a beautiful sunset or a beautiful girl. They’re beautiful, O.K.?”
He gestures toward the middle of the studio.
“I’ve got a noodle over here.”

Innovating in high tech firms is like taking pictures of a beautiful sunset – it’s relatively easy. Innovating when you’re in an industry that isn’t usually considered innovative can be a lot harder – it’s like taking a beautiful picture when all you’ve got is a noodle.

As the NYT story shows, the guys taking the food pictures have been incredibly inventive in figuring out how to do it well (although whether they’re creating value or not might be questionable). Here is what food looks like when you don’t do anything with it:

But they somehow manage to make even fast food look like something you might consider eating.

In the same way, you can innovate when you’re in “non-innovative” industries – in fact, if there’s a gap between where you currently are and where you want to be, you must.

John and I recently spent a couple of days working with an industrial firm that has been working hard to become more innovative. In an industry that is very cost-competitive they have taken the unusual step of adding an extra layer of management on their assembly line. On the surface, this looks crazy, but it’s an important management innovation.

With the extra line managers taking care of the problems that crop up each day, the rest of the managers have been able to focus on big picture issues. By doing this, and also working more closely with everyone on the line, they have introduced new production methods that have taken about $4 million per year out of their costs. Now that they have innovated to increase efficiency, they are turning their attention to implementing ideas that could substantially change their industry.

This innovation is the only thing that has kept them in business.

If the food guys can make noodles look great, and if the assembly line people can innovate in a historically non-innovative industry, then you can innovate too.