No. 302 | October 10, 2025
Welcome to this week’s Friday Five—a quick dose of insights, inspiration, and favorites to start your weekend with clarity and purpose.
Music of the Week
Chloé Herry, professionally known as CloZee, is a French musician, DJ, producer, and label manager.
She developed an early love for guitar, later forming a band that blended rock, soul, and funk—all rooted in her classical training.
Her instrumental music often weaves in processed human voice samples as instruments.
To get a feel for CloZee, check out The Golden Mask, Desert, Secret Place, and Koto.
Quotes of the Week
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the idea of practicing love—how it’s an action, not just an emotion. The quotes below have served as reminders and mantras, not prescriptions.
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” – Marcus Aurelius
“I shall show you a love potion without a drug, without a herb … if you want to be loved, love.” – Seneca
“The power to love … belongs only to the wise man.” – Epictetus
“Yes, it is our choice to practice love in some form or another every day. It isn’t just an emotion that happens to us.” – Nancy Rynes
“Practice love in your relationships. The key to this is avoiding expectation. It’s expectation that makes most people miserable in love – the return on the investment.” – Frederick Lenz
Article of the Week
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” – Charles William Eliot
Every month, I recap the books I read from the previous month—it’s a way for me to distill the most important lessons I’ve learned from each book.
Last month, I read four standout books: Make Something Wonderful, The Fish That Ate the Whale, Only the Paranoid Survive, and Amazon Unbound.
First, Make Something Wonderful is a collection of Steve Jobs’ speeches, emails, and interviews revealing what made the legendary entrepreneur tick.
Next, The Fish That Ate the Whale is an incredible story of how hustle results in outsized outcomes.
My third book, Only the Paranoid Survive, takes you inside the boiler room of Andy Grove’s Intel during a tumultuous period of massive disruption.
Last, I read Amazon Unbound—an inside look at how Jeff Bezos built the digital empire that is now Amazon.
For more on these four books, you can read my article below:
📝 September Reading List: 4 Best Books I Read in September 2025
Book of the Week
In Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, Tony Hsieh shows how growth and harmony—both personal and professional—are the keys to lasting happiness.
Hsieh believed you can build a business that prioritizes culture, makes money, and changes the world.
Delivering Happiness shares the tools he’s learned in business and life—from starting a worm farm business to running a pizza shop to building Zappos.
The book is fast-paced. It’s down to earth.
Hsieh shows how a unique kind of corporate culture can be a powerful model for success.
His message: concentrating on the happiness of those around you can drastically increase your own.
For more on Zappos, its sale to Amazon, and building a business, check out the book below:
📚 Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
Podcast of the Week
Extreme perseverance and stubborn genius—two phrases that accurately describe James Dyson.
His business philosophy is unique—one that few entrepreneurs ever experience firsthand.
What’s his philosophy? Demand something different from what currently exists and retain control of your business.
Dyson has been building one of the most valuable private companies for the past four decades.
It’s a company without shareholders—one centered around an obsession with the quality of the product.
For more on Dyson’s empire, listen to the episode below:
🎧 Listen to The Stubborn Genius of James Dyson
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