Fake vs. Real – The Zurich43 Retreat 2018 at Pilatus Kulm

The 2018 edition of Zurich43 annual retreat, this year with the theme "Fake vs. Real", was held 29 – 30 January 2018 at Hotel Pilatus-Kulm. Three IT'IS Foundation board members joined 28 associates from Z43 to present and discuss a variety of books and journal and newspaper articles to gain a better understanding of how misinformation is generated and disseminated, and how it perseveres and can even morph into “facts”. Further, the results of internet searches intended as guides to the identification and delivery of high-quality science, products, and services were also presented.

The reading assignments included 10 books – "Media Control" by Noam Chomsky; "The Truth Matters: A Citizen's Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks" by Bruce Bartlett; "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal; "Contagious: Why Things Catch On" by Jonah Berger; "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" by Richard P. Feynman; "Product Management for Dummies" by Brian Lawley and Pamela Schure; "Good Products, Bad Products: Essential Elements to Achieving Superior Quality" by James Adams; and "Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products" by Leander Kahney.

The high-quality presentations by the attendees were augmented by work in smaller breakout groups, where participants reviewed specific aspects of Z43 performance. When the three groups reconvened to discuss their findings, surprising commonalities were identified in what Z43 gets right and where there might be shortfalls, and approaches to bridging gaps were proposed and considered.

The retreat was a great opportunity to get above the fog to try to formulate concrete measures to foster continued excellence across Z43.