After building AI-powered experiences at Apple and transforming customer engagement at Walmart, Deepti Sharma thought she’d seen it all. Then she went to MIT’s executive education program and realized something crucial: the companies winning at digital transformation aren’t just better at technology, they’re thinking about it completely differently.
Most companies are stuck trying to translate good ideas into real results. They buy the same cloud services, license the same AI tools, and hire similar talent. But something gets lost in execution. Sharma discovered that what separates incremental improvement from real breakthroughs isn’t the technology itself; it’s the mental frameworks leaders use to deploy it.
Now at her latest career inflection – including working with SuperDNA 3D Lab, and the launch of her strategic advisory practice, Mindscape, LLC (more on that in a bit) – she has synthesized for us seven lessons that shape how she approaches digital transformation:
1. Think in systems, not features
The biggest mistake companies make? Treating digital transformation like a checklist of technologies to implement. What actually works is understanding how everything connects your data, your customers, and your operations. When you change one thing, everything else shifts. Companies that get this design have whole new ways of operating. Those that don’t get stuck with pilots that never scale.
2. Build platforms, not just products.
The companies dominating digital markets aren’t optimizing what they make; they’re creating spaces where different groups can connect and create value together. Netflix didn’t win by making better videos; they built a platform where viewers, content creators, and algorithms work together. This applies inside companies too. Build a data system, and you’ve created a platform connecting people who generate data with people who use it.
3. Use blockchain to solve trust problems, not just move money
Forget the cryptocurrency hype. Blockchain’s real power is letting people who don’t trust each other work together anyway. Luxury brands use it to prove their products aren’t fake. Pharmaceutical companies track drugs from factory to pharmacy. The lesson? Many “impossible” coordination problems are really just trust problems in disguise.
4. Ask what AI makes possible, not what it can automate
Most companies approach AI wrong. They ask, “Where can we replace people?” The better question: “What can we do now that was impossible before?” Netflix doesn’t use AI to make slightly better recommendations; they deliver personalized experiences to millions of people that no human team could ever create.
5. Design your organization to innovate… don’t hope it happens
Breakthrough companies like NASA and Pixar don’t pray for good ideas; they build specific ways of working that generate them predictably. NASA created structured approaches for when to ask outsiders for help. Pixar engineered me[a][b][c]etings where directors get brutally honest feedback that makes their work better. Innovation comes from how you set things up, not from hiring geniuses.
6. Make creativity systematic
Great ideas aren’t mystical flashes of inspiration. Design thinking shows that breakthrough solutions come from disciplined processes: deeply understand what users really need, defining the actual problem, generate diverse solutions, build quick prototypes, and test everything. When you combine this with data, you stop just improving what exists and start creating what people didn’t know they needed.
7. Orchestrate ecosystems, not just value chains
The old way was linear: make products, sell products, capture profit. The new way is connecting different groups, suppliers, creators, logistics partners, and customers; and making their interactions work better. Success comes from getting all these people aligned, not from perfecting what you produce yourself.
Shift the Conversation
These lessons shift the entire conversation about digital transformation. You stop asking “What technology should we buy?” and start asking “How do we fundamentally change how we create value?”
“Here’s what I learned: technology gets cheaper and easier to access every year,” says Sharma. “What stays rare is knowing how to think about it strategically. The companies pulling ahead don’t have some secret technology nobody else can buy. They just understand how digital changes the game, how it reshapes competition, creates new business models, and opens up ways to rebuild entire industries.”
Inflection Point
As noted, these insights were evident to Sharma as she strikes a few milestones and inflection points in her professional journey. At the newly minted Mindscape LLC, Sharma helps enterprises translate digital investments into measurable competitive advantage. She does this through systematic frameworks – such as those above – that were forged at MIT and fire-tested through implementation at Fortune 500 companies. For example, the strategic advisory work she’s currently doing with SuperDNA 3D Lab unlocks new strategic pathways in the application and deployment of 3D commerce.
The future, Sharma believes, belongs to leaders who can make sense of complexity, connect different domains of knowledge, and turn new technologies into lasting business value – exactly what rigorous executive education teaches you to do.
Jatinder Kukreja is AR Insider’s Contributing Editor. Based in Amsterdam, he’s AR Insider’s European Dispatch, covering XR innovation and the future of 3D commerce. Jatinder’s insights also flow from his role as founder & CEO of SuperDNA 3D Lab.