Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs

CHAPTER 11

Unleash Your Resonator

How do we become and remain a market leader?

 

 

 

 

 

Ever heard of Joseph Swan?

What if we told you that he invented and patented an incandescent lamp with a filament made from carbonized paper in a partial vacuum: in other words, the world’s first electric light bulb.¹

“What a minute,” you say. “Didn’t Edison invent the light bulb?” That’s what we thought too. But it turns out, in this case, that Edison wasn’t so much innovative as tuned in. What he did best was connect to the market problem of bringing light into homes. He was the first to show the invention in action, because, as the owner of a power company that later became known as General Electric, he had easy access to enough electricity to support a proper demonstration of the world-changing capabilities of electric light. Edison knew that without power, a light bulb doesn’t solve anyone’s problems—it’s just a glass bulb with a filament. Edison lost a patent dispute in court over the light bulb, but he went down in history as the invention’s father because he was the one who made it a breakthrough experience.

Thanks for hanging in there with us and making it to this final chapter! We want you to have success like Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs and Mark Batterson of National Community Church, and we know the Tuned In Process can help you get there. Sure, a focus on innovation may yield your own version of the light bulb. But if you don’t develop, market, and distribute your invention the right ...