What does it really take to disrupt an industry that powers the modern world?

Gene Gebolys has spent nearly 30 years working to displace fossil energy with cleaner alternatives. As founder, Chair, and CEO of World Energy, he helped pioneer sustainable aviation fuel and is now working on something potentially even more transformative: creating markets that allow the environmental value of decarbonization to be measured, separated, and monetized.

But Gene's story is about much more than energy.

We explore why incremental innovation can ultimately create transformational change, why technology alone can't solve economic problems, and why waiting for government policy may be the wrong strategy for changing an industry. Gene explains how World Energy's approach to “insetting” could change the economics of decarbonization – and potentially be applied far beyond aviation.

We also discuss Tesla, nuclear energy, the future of fossil fuels, the role of corporate leadership, the changing motivations of talented workers, and why Gene believes the energy transition may be one of the most important fields for the next generation of innovators.

The deeper lesson? Innovation doesn't win simply because it's better. It wins when you change the conditions under which better becomes valuable.