Happy Friday! ☀️
Hi from the tail end of a week spent heads down in deep work. August is quiet, most of my clients are off, and next to caring for a dog and a cat, I can finally dive into some thinking and writing time for work.
What I’m reading 📖
This week I signed on a new client based in Belgium who develops a device that supports people’s breathwork practice to reduce stress, anxiety, and pain. To prepare for this client journey where we will develop vision, purpose, strategy, values and culture for the company, I read up on the topic a bit more to get prepared. Here is a useful article that covers the benefits of breathwork if you’re interested. Breathe!
What I’m listening to 🎧
City Slang is a Berlin-based record label that is known for releasing records by artists like Caribou, Calexico, and Broken Social Scene. I used to devour every new record they put out a few years ago but had lost track of new releases recently. Good thing that they have a Spotify playlist with new songs they put out.
What I’m watching 📺
A few years ago on vacation I read Lawrence Osborne’s novel The Forgiven and loved it. A story of privilege and cultural appropriation, it is set during a weekend of festivities in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The book got adapted to a movie with a cast including Jessica Chastain, Ralph Fiennes, and an excellent Ismael Kanater. The movie is well made and the photography and setting is stunning but for me personally, it’s an instance where I found the book better than the movie. Watch the trailer.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to living creatures cannot be a good man.
– Arthur Shopenhauer in On the Basis of Morality, 1840.
What else?! 💯
One of my earliest internet friends in Tumblr times around 2009 was a Boston-based venture capiltalist named Bijan Sabet. Bijan was an early investor in Twitter and Tumblr. Next to being an investor, Bijan is also an excellent photographer and music nerd. This week, President Biden nominated Bijan to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic. What an exciting new role for him, congratulations!
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
David
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