Why Digital Transformation Should Never Be Treated as an IT Job — Alfred Zhu, Middleby

Alfred Zhu began his career at General Electric, first as an intern and then as an employee, going on to lead the Asia Pacific region before relocating from Shanghai to the United States to help build a major new platform at United Technologies. A Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Master, he has spent his career at the intersection of digital technology, engineering and manufacturing. 

Today, as Vice President of Digital Technologies, Global Engineering and Lean Manufacturing at The Middleby Corporation, he leads global teams across multiple geographies, applying the same principle throughout his career: that transformation is a business responsibility, powered by digital technology, rather than an isolated technical exercise.

What shaped your approach to digital transformation?

Alfred reflects on the personal and professional adjustment behind one of his career’s biggest transitions.

“I’ve always worked for U.S. companies. General Electric was my first company — I interned there and then joined as an employee, and eventually led the business for the Asia Pacific region. Later, at United Technologies, I relocated from Shanghai to the U.S. to help lead one of the company’s major initiatives. 

It took about two years to build that platform, and we achieved phenomenal results and a genuinely new way of doing business in the industry. It was innovative work; I remember intense conversations with Microsoft about how to move the industry forward.

Personally, the transition from Shanghai to the U.S. was challenging. I thought speaking the language would be enough, but living in a country is very different from visiting it, and Eastern and Western cultures are still quite different. It was a huge learning curve, but it helped me understand and respect both cultures, and to drive initiatives that bring people together rather than apart.”

Why should digital transformation never be treated as an IT-only initiative?

Alfred explains why ownership across the business, not just IT, determines whether transformation succeeds.

“I don’t consider digital transformation to be an IT job. Once I also took on leadership of service, lean manufacturing and engineering, that became even clearer to me. If you treat it purely as IT’s responsibility, you fail from the start, because you’re not engaged with the customer or with what’s actually happening on the ground. 

Every for-profit company exists to grow, so the real question is always: where can we put our limited resources to make the biggest impact? You have to start with the major issues the business is trying to address.

I don’t see a huge difference between how transformation should work in the East versus the West — it’s the way you get there that differs. In Eastern cultures, you often have to actively encourage people to speak up so they feel they’re genuinely contributing, not just being told what to do. In the U.S., we talk a lot, but the challenge is focusing on what truly matters. 

Nothing is ever 100% perfect, so I use the 80/20 rule: if a solution addresses 80% of the need, that’s enough to get started. You learn by doing, not just in theory — get your hands dirty, do enough analysis to move responsibly, and build up progressively rather than expecting to go from zero to 100% immediately.”

What is your ‘pet projects’ approach?

Alfred describes how small, individually driven ideas mature into fully-fledged initiatives with proven ROI.

“Throughout my career, I’ve run what I call ‘pet projects’ — ideas that get initiated before they become formal projects in the pipeline. They usually start with someone on my team who has a strong interest in a particular area, and that person partners directly with me on it, regardless of their level in the organisation. 

It’s a way of encouraging people to try something outside their usual job description, if it’s something they’re genuinely interested in and it could benefit the company.

Big companies often look for large budgets and large teams before they’ll back an initiative, but that’s higher risk. My approach starts small — a pet project might take a couple of months to mature — and once it’s more structured, we bring it to the board with a clear picture of the ROI already attached. 

Transformation isn’t only about savings; often it’s about creating new capabilities and new revenue streams, for example through IoT and operational technology that helps predict equipment failure and improve outcomes for customers. You don’t need a hundred slides to convince the board — once you can show it’s working, they come to you.”

How is AI changing the role of robotics?

Alfred contrasts the fixed automation of the past with the adaptive, AI-enabled robotics now emerging.

“You can’t be religious about AI and data — you have to find the actual use case on the shop floor. Robotics can help enormously, but you don’t want to turn shop-floor employees into data scientists. Information has to be made available in a way people can act on: do I need to schedule maintenance, do I need to call for support, do I need to reorder parts? That requires proper education for operators and the shop floor.

Earlier in my career, working for a joint venture between GE and a robotics company, we built solutions for large power plants, and at that time robots operated without any real intelligence — they’d repeat the same pick-and-place motion whether or not there was actually anything there to grab. 

What’s changing now is that AI and machine learning are giving robotics real decision-making capability, so a single robot can perform more than one task and adapt to what it identifies. Our people remain the most valuable asset in the company; the goal is to capture their knowledge and let them effectively become the teachers of the robots, and the architects of the assembly line.”

How do you build trust across global, remote teams?

Alfred shares the principles and the analogy that guide how he connects teams across cultures and time zones.

“Trust is central to how I lead. You have to trust your team’s capabilities, and that trust has to run both ways — they need to feel they can tell me what they can’t yet do without fear that it will be held against them. If a skill gap exists, we look at bringing in a partner and learning along the way, rather than assuming everything has to be built in-house.

Building trust with remote teams is genuinely hard, because everyone has their own personal circumstances and cultural context. I hold a weekly meeting with my leadership team — six leaders across different segments — in a fairly free format, so people can talk about what’s happening in their area. 

The real goal is to connect team members with each other, not just with me. Think of it like fishing: one line can catch you one fish, but a net catches many. I try to build that net of connections across my team.”

What is one question every executive should ask before launching a transformation initiative?

Alfred offers the question he believes reveals whether a company is truly committed to change.

“If I could ask every executive one question before launching a transformation initiative, it would be: how much time are you planning to focus on this? Digital transformation isn’t easy, and how much time you’re willing to commit tells you how much commitment the company genuinely has. If the answer is something like 10%, it’s unlikely to succeed — you’re changing the way people have always done things, and that makes people uneasy.

You often don’t see results until execution is properly in place, and that requires discipline. If leadership keeps swinging back and forth, or greenlights something without the proper groundwork, you’ve set yourself up for failure from the start. 

Transformation has to be approached holistically — engineering, supply chain, inventory management and cash flow are all tied together — so you can’t work in silos. It’s genuinely rewarding work, but it demands real knowledge and real expertise.”

Join the Conversation: The Ortus Club’s Executive Network

As Alfred’s perspective shows, digital transformation succeeds when it is driven by business outcomes, cross-functional trust and disciplined, low-risk experimentation rather than treated as a technology project handed to IT. His ‘pet projects’ approach and his instinct for building a net of connections across global teams reflect a broader reality: transformation leaders rarely refine their thinking in isolation.

At The Ortus Club, we host curated executive roundtables that bring senior leaders together to test exactly these questions of commitment, ownership and trust. Join our network to exchange insights with peers navigating the same transformation challenges.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why shouldn’t digital transformation be treated as an IT-only initiative?

A: Because transformation ultimately serves business growth. If it is delegated purely to IT, leaders lose engagement with customers and with the real issues driving the business, and initiatives fail to gain traction.

Q: What is a ‘pet project’ approach to innovation?

A: It is a low-risk way of developing new ideas, starting small with an individual’s interest before an initiative becomes a formal, funded project. It allows ROI to be demonstrated before significant budget is committed.

Q: How is AI changing industrial robotics?

A: Traditional robotics followed fixed, repetitive motions regardless of context. AI and machine learning now give robots the ability to identify what is actually needed and adapt, allowing a single robot to perform more than one task.

Q: Why is trust important when leading remote, global teams?

A: Trust allows team members to be honest about what they can and cannot yet do, and enables leaders to delegate decisions with confidence. It also allows individual team members to connect with one another, not just with their leader.

Q: What question should executives ask before starting a transformation initiative?

A: How much time are you genuinely willing to commit to this? The answer reveals the true level of organisational commitment behind the initiative, which is often a stronger predictor of success than budget alone.