Big Questions with Cal Fussman

Cal The Journalist meets John The Salesman and things will never be the same – not for Cal, anyway. For years, Cal had been told to stay on his side of The Wall that separated the editorial and sales departments of newspapers and magazines. But the Internet has changed that world and now everyone must sell themselves in some way, shape or form. Cal is delighted to find out that, at its best, sales...

What a superpower it would be to be able to look at the ordinary and wonder how it could be different… and then make it better. That's what Cal discovers when he speaks with Miki Agrawal, entrepreneur and author of the book, Disrupt-Her . He'll never be the same. He's already switched to bamboo toilet paper after Miki explained to him all the environmental benefits. Miki has specialized in the "po...

Many years ago, TOMS shoes founder Blake Mycoskie asked a wise man for some advice. That man wrote some on a sheet of paper: "The more you give, the more you live." It has guided Blake ever since. First, in the start-up of TOMS – which donates a pair of shoes to an impoverished child every time it sells a pair. And most recently, in the start-up of a campaign to end gun violence through changing f...

Cal goes to the archives and pulls out a childhood tale George Clooney told him about how his eccentric family taught him to tell a good story. The podcast continues with the story of how drug addiction was transformed into a landmark run across the Sahara Desert for Charlie Engle. So many takeaways from this episode: The basics of storytelling. Overcoming addiction. The power of discipline. Seein...

The singer and songwriter talks to Cal about how life experiences turn into music. The conversation leads to the background behind Andy's hits: Honey I'm Good, Keep Your Head Up and Fresh Eyes. But at its deepest level the discussion delves into the process that we all must go through to create. The takeaways are many. How to keep going when nobody around you seems to be paying attention to what y...

Big Questions celebrates its one-year anniversary with takeaways from  guests over the last year. Kobe Bryant explains how excellence transfers across all pursuits. Seth Godin describes how to think beyond the societal patterns that can knock us off balance. Larry King gets at the importance of communicating your own story. Nely Galan shares how pain can be turned into profit. Spartan CEO Joe DeSe...

This episode speaks to anyone who meets an unexpected and unwanted twist of fate. When Dr. Guatam Gulati takes his family on a dream of a lifetime safari in Africa, he joins a group of Maasai warriors in a tribal dance and, after landing from a jump, finds himself in excruciating pain, and his left kneecap no longer where it used to be. It's now in his thigh. It's dark, the only light for miles co...

The story of Alex's bestselling book, The Third Door, continues in this episode. The journey started seven years ago, when Alex was a college freshman, going through a mini life crisis when he realized he wasn't cut out to be a doctor and would be disappointing his family. Alex began to wonder about the meaning of success. What were the most successful people doing when they were his age? That que...

It's holiday season and the perfect time for a podcast about gifts. The story of an extraordinary gift – a very special piano – is a favorite of Cal's and will bring good cheer to all who listen. The story revolves around songwriter Jimmy McHugh, who was highly successful until the stock market crash in 1929 that set off The Great Depression. McHugh was forced to sell everything he owned to surviv...

For 11 years, Jordan Harbinger was the voice of The Art of Charm podcast that got up to 3 million listens a month. Then, not long ago, Jordan and his partners split and Jordan was out on his own and having a hard time sleeping. This is the story of his comeback. The Jordan Harbinger Show is bigger than ever – receiving 4 million listens a month. Jordan explains to Cal what it takes to make a busin...

Cal finds out how a man who worked on the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit for 24 years incorporates what he learned on the job into day-to-day life. Cal's biggest take-away is that people who are good at asking questions have the essential elements to negotiate well. Many of the characteristics inherent in successful interviewing apply – especially mastery of tone of voice and observation of body lang...

From sharing a couch for almost two months to challenging Will Smith to bungee jump out of a helicopter over the Grand Canyon, three young guys from different places around the world form bonds that create an ever-deepening friendship. Ammar Kandil, Thomas Brag and Matt Dajer go on adventures that define the group's name: Yes Theory. They say yes to tasks that make them uncomfortable, and the diff...

The star of the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt talks with Cal at Chicago Ideas Week about the art of being funny in an age when tastes are quickly shifting. Cal points out that the humor which made people laugh when he was a kid might not resonate with the current generation and in many cases would be seen as politically incorrect. With culture shifting generationally and our poli...

The former CEO of Home Depot shows Cal how he used questions and conversations to lift the fortunes of the company between 2007 and 2014. But this was only after he observed how questions could be used as traps, tests or even look like a "live wire in a wet basement" in political, legal and corporate settings during the decades before. This is an authentic conversation that, at times, surprised bo...

The author of the New York Times best-seller When joins Cal at Chicago Big Ideas week and gives him advice on the best time of the day to eat, exercise and hold meetings. Not to mention the worst time of day to make important decisions. He also explains to Cal how  people will be watching television and consuming podcasts at different times and in different ways, and why it's wise to think about s...

Cal talks with Rob Lawless about the changes in travel since Cal went around the world back in the 80s. Whereas Cal used magazine work to get his journey off the ground and then was passed around the world by the people he met, Rob now uses the Internet to keep his trip going. Rob has a goal of talking with 10,000 people for an hour. He makes Instagram posts after each meeting, and pushes the jour...

Aston Martin's president tells Cal about the circuitous journey that took her from jumping rope as a girl in Louisville, to the tennis team at Notre Dame, to law school, to working three jobs to make ends meet at age 27, all the way to the top of the iconic British car company. And then she made Cal feel like James Bond when she put him behind the wheel of an Aston Martin. Takeaways: -Work ethic g...

The Grammy Award-winning saxophone player gets to the essence of the way we can all get the most out of our lives through the art of being awake. From the time he was a boy who'd contracted polio and found the saxophone to improve the strength of his lungs, David Sanborn has been making a series of connections that evolved into an extraordinary life and career. There are many takeaways in the art...

Cal meets the best-selling author at an entrepreneurial conference in Colorado called two12 and becomes highly curious as to how Ryan can be a writer and ALSO an expert at marketing books, as well as positioning companies. Generally, when a person has one of those talents or skills, he or she is lacking in the other area. Cal finds out exactly how Ryan became The Full House in a conversation that...

When Cal asks the conservative talk show host about the roots of his new book, Addicted to Outrage, Glenn goes back to his childhood to explain the events that made him who he is. Beck reflects upon his mother's suicide when he was 15 as the moment that turned him toward alcohol to deaden his pain. His inability to even mention his mother or her death in the home of his father and stepmother led h...

Cal finds there can be life after one's heart stops beating. Chip Conley tells him what it was like to flatline at age of 47, how he recovered and went on to sell his boutique hotel company, which put him in the surprising place where he could mentor Brian Chesky and a group of millennials who'd founded Airbnb. The combination of young minds and the wisdom of Chip's experience in hospitality made...

Cal reconnects with the man who had the World Trade Center fall on his head and finds the lessons he learned even more powerful over time. The two reflect upon the conversation they had shortly after Michael survived the deadliest attack on American soil. That conversation was turned into a noted Esquire Magazine story published in Michael's own words in the January 2002 issue. The takeaways in th...

As Cal tries to expand awareness of his podcast, he gets tips from the author of the just-released book entitled: Belong: Find Your People, Create Community and live a more Connected Life. Radha is the founder of Daybreaker – an early morning celebration that allows people all over the world to start the day by meeting others, dancing, doing yoga and listening to great speakers in a non-alcohol en...

Kevin tells Cal how mental illness pushed him to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco 18 years ago – and how he survived only because a sea lion kept him propped up on the water's surface. Kevin became one of only a few people to walk away from such a fall, and the chain of events that followed led him to find the love of his life, and his work helping all of us to understand mental il...

As the fifth anniversary of Diana Nyad's record-breaking swim between Cuba and Florida approaches, Diana explains to Cal what it took to make the 110-mile journey in 2013 at the age 64. (This episode contains explicit or triggering content.) The Youtube video that shows Diana taking her first shaky steps on land at Key West after swimming for roughly 53 consecutive hours in waters filled with shar...