No. 331 | May 8, 2026
Welcome to Friday Five, a short dose of ideas for your weekend.
Do what’s right. Actions matter more than intentions. Expect rejection anyway. Stay true to yourself. Your uniqueness is your advantage.
If this resonates, forward it to a friend. Most readers discover Friday Five that way.
This Week in Friday Five
🎵 Three songs to start with: The Black Keys
💬 Do what’s right
📝 Face rejection head-on
📚 Sam Zell on independent thinking
🎙️ John Mackey on building Whole Foods from scratch
Music of the Week
The Black Keys are a rock band from Ohio formed by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney.
After releasing their first album in the early 2000s, they steadily built a following before breaking through with Grammy winners.
Start with Lonely Boy, Howlin’ For You, and Gold on the Ceiling.
Quotes of the Week
Focus on doing what’s right instead of chasing validation. Doing always matters more than talking.
“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” — Oprah Winfrey
“The time is always right to do what is right.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” — Theodore Roosevelt
“You are never wrong to do the right thing.” — Mark Twain
Article of the Week
“The two most powerful things in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture.” — Ken Langone
Ken Langone is busting his butt trying to pay for college.
Steve Wozniak is staying up all night building computers by hand without a commercial plan in mind.
Jim Clayton is going door to door, getting rejected, trying to figure out what people actually need in a home.
Fred Smith’s company is on its last leg when he flies to Vegas and risks the last of its cash to keep it alive.
Various industries, but the inputs are the same: facing rejection head-on to build something meaningful.
This is the theme running through my February reading list:
📝 February Reading List: 4 Best Books I Read in February 2026
Book of the Week
Self-made billionaire Sam Zell saw what others didn’t: opportunity in underserved markets.
Zell shut out the noise, absorbed information, and trusted his gut.
Am I Being Too Subtle? is part business memoir, part investing philosophy, and part argument for independent thinking.
Key lessons that stuck with me include:
- Reputation is your most important asset
- Build a tolerance for rejection
- Simplicity is a competitive advantage
- Speed and certainty win deals
- Integrity is keeping your word
- Structure situations with asymmetric upside
- Opportunity exists where supply and demand are out of balance
- Some of the best deals are the ones you don’t do
- Liquidity creates value
- Understand people’s motivations before depending on them
For more on Zell and what he learned building businesses, read:
📚 Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel
Podcast of the Week
The story of Whole Foods is a retail, cultural, and dietary revolution that changed the way people think and consume food.
Founder John Mackey spent four decades proving the concept could work.
He recently joined David Senra’s podcast to talk about the Whole Foods journey, the cast of characters who helped build the company, what he learned from failure, and what he’d do differently if he were building the company today.
For more on Mackey, Whole Foods, and the lessons he learned building the company, listen:
🎙️ John Mackey, Whole Foods Market
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