When Bertrand Piccard proposed circumnavigating the globe in a solar-powered airplane, the world’s leading aviation experts told him it was a pipe dream.

That’s when the former Swiss Air Force fighter pilot turned to a shipyard where engineers said they could build a fuel-free airplane as light as Piccard desired.

In 2016, Piccard and his aviator partner André Borschberg made history when their slender aircraft, the Solar Impulse, touched down in Abu Dhabi after completing the first round-the-world solar powered flight.

By inspiring shipyard builders to design the world’s first solar aircraft, Piccard understood that to innovate he had to step away from old ways of thinking and forge alliances with experts who saw the world from a different point of view.

Now Piccard is using this vision to shape the Solar Impulse Foundation, an initiative to identify 1,000 business solutions that can protect the environment in profitable ways. So far, Piccard’s foundation has certified more than 200 solutions that create jobs and generate profit, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving natural resources.

But to align profit with the planet’s best interests, and to lessen our dependence on fossil fuel, business leaders will have to transform their mindset and adapt to a new landscape. Familiar ways of operating will not pay dividends in the long term.

Read the full article about innovative businesses by Alzbeta Klein at GreenBiz.