Big Questions With Cal Fussman

Cal gets a lesson in how to bring an idea to life. The CEO and founder of MasterClass shows him how to use questions to research the way forward, and then how to act off that research. MasterClass now showcases experts as varied as director Martin Scorsese, actress Natalie Portman, guitarist Carlos Santana, tennis star Serena Williams, architect Frank Gehry and the list goes on and on. Check out how Rogier put it all together, and you are sure to have a treasure trove of takeaways to bring your own idea to life.

Cal talks with the author of Let’s Talk About Death (Over Dinner) at just the right time – prior to watching his first funeral over Zoom. Cal’s questions about death, the coronavirus and our country’s health lead to a very unexpected place: a way of using Hebb’s thought-provoking conversations about death as a different kind of vaccine against COVID 19.  These conversations could lead to a change in our thinking and our behavior, and actually protect us. Cal plans to listen to this back and forth again. Please, get the most out of it.

Cal sits with the President and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals to talk about healthcare in the time of the pandemic, and how the present moment will impact the future of YOUR healthcare. Chip has been called one of the 100 most powerful people in healthcare and after decades of experience in the area he knows everything that Cal wants to know. At a time when many people are being furloughed and fired from their jobs for no fault of their own and losing their health insurance, it’s important to start thinking about how our system might be modified so that we all can get the best out of it. This is a conversation that we all need to be in on. 

At a time when we’re all wondering about the continued economic repercussions of the coronavirus, Cal looks into ways that we can all focus on money. His guest is Gregg Clunis, the host of the personal development podcast called Tiny Leaps, Big Changes. Gregg grew up in a home with little money, and has spent much of his life thinking about how to get the most out of it. The conversation offers thoughts to young people who are starting out and might not have much in the bank, as well as to people who are financially stable. This talk does not involve stock tips or cryptocurrency advice. It’s very simple. At a time when the world around us makes us feel unsettled, these tips will bring a sense of certainty to anybody who listens.

Cal became curious about an intriguing character in the HBO documentary, The Weight of Gold, which addresses a culture of depression among American Olympians that has led to a series of suicides. So he immediately called Katie Uhlaender to find out what makes an Olympic life and how depression finds its way inside it. After competing in four Winter Olympics in the Skeleton event, and losing a medal to an opponent who was involved in a doping scandal, Katie finds herself in a position to be a voice for the athlete in a system that only seems to care about results. Cal believes we shouldn’t be taking health insurance away from our Olympians the moment they’re off the conveyer belt any more than we should be taking it away from people who get fired or furloughed during the coronavirus. Lots to think about. 

Cal speaks with the director of the HBO documentary The Weight of Gold about the state of depression faced by many American Olympians, and the subsequent suicides. Swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, narrates the doc and leaves you wondering how the support system might be transformed. It’s a good opening for you to think about how well your own health care set up takes care of you.

The former Surgeon General explains to Cal how we might rethink our health care system. This is a wise conversation at a time of COVID 19 when millions of people are losing their insurance due to furloughs and layoffs. Dr. Murthy examines the feelings of loneliness affecting patients and physicians in our system, and gives us some hope that we’ll be able to do better. If you’re not looking closely at health care now, you just may be six months down the road. Start with Cal now.

There is no better time to think about how to change, and there was no one who loved change more than former General Electric CEO Jack Welch. Cal remembers a day he spent with him shortly after Welsh retired and shows how Welsh’s words influenced him when it came time to pivot after The Great Recession, and again now in the time of Covid 19. Find out how this podcast might change YOU.

No city may be more vulnerable to the coronavirus than Las Vegas. Every year it was inviting 42 million people in for dinner. The city’s economy is dependent on those visitors, and Cal looks at the history of Las Vegas for a clue as to how the city might reinvent itself after the virus subsides. Entrepreneur Tom Breitling, author of the book Double or Nothing, and some of his friends explain why they’re betting on a big Vegas comeback. This podcast offers lessons in reinvention and hints at why Las Vegas may be the place to be in 2022.

Cal talks with one of the greatest tennis players of all time about the attitude and strategies that can guide us all through the different stages of reinvention. There are few people on the planet more equipped to talk about this evolution than Maria, who left Russia at the age of six with her dad to come to America and play tennis. Her dad had roughly $700 when they arrived. Maria went on to the IMG Academy, and on to win Wimbledon at the age of 17. She won all the Grand Slam events before retiring early this year, but, more than that, she became a model, UN Ambassador, owner of a candy company, art collector and investor. She has achieved mastery on many levels – and offers us all tips on how to get to where we want to go next.

After almost a half a year of being cooped up and inhaling news of the coronavirus, the killing of George Floyd by police and the subsequent anger, stress and uncertainty all over the world, Cal got an opportunity to get healthy in an unexpected way. The founders of Madefor reached out to him with a 10-month challenge to improve all aspects of his health and it all starts with… drinking more water. After only a couple of days, Cal felt so much better he was hooked. Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Tom Shoes, Pat Dossett, a Navy Seal, and Dr. Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist at Stanford, explain what Madefor can do for you.

After watching the comic/sage talk about our national reality on his recently-released special called 8:46, Cal feels nudged to offer up his own thoughts on how we might move forward. Cal is certainly no comedian, but he does have a few stories to tell and some questions to meet the moment.

Cal gets on the phone with the Brooklyn Borough President in the midst of the recent protests, rioting and looting to talk about the complexity of our national problem. Eric was given a racial beat down by police, who repeatedly kicked him in the groin when he was 15, and was later urged to make a change to the system by becoming a police officer himself. He served in the NYPD for 22 years, retiring at the rank of captain, and now is running for mayor of New York City. Eric sees our current landscape through experiences that few others have had. It’s very rare to hear a conversation with a politician like this. Don’t miss it.

Cal questions one of the world’s great pivoters. Jacqueline has turned an interview she bungled right off the bat when she graduated from college into a career that has influenced hundreds of millions of lives. That includes bringing food to those without funds in Los Angeles during the coronavirus and bringing solar energy to a hundred million people in Africa. As CEO of the entrepreneurial investment firm Acumen, Jacqueline has been named one of the Top 100 global thinkers by Foreign Policy, one of the World’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes and one of the 25 Smartest People of the Decade by The Daily Beast. For anybody looking to pivot or reinvent themselves, this episode may change your life.

Cal gets a tutorial on how to pivot his business to the Internet from the president of The Montag Group, an agency famous for representing America’s finest broadcasters. Steve is an expert at analyzing communication skills, as he proves in his forthcoming book called Don’t Take Yes For An Answer. The idea behind the book is to go beyond the positive canned responses we tend to get and look deeply at the details of how we communicate. This episode is packed with takeaways that can improve anyone’s communication skills and may even transform lives.

Cal looks back at the stories he wrote for Esquire in the words of the actor who played George Costanza’s father in Seinfeld. The way Stiller got the role is perfect example of pivoting that applies to us all during the time of the coronavirus. Rather than go with the role in the way it was intended, Stiller completely reinvented it and it’s one of the many reasons we’re still watching replays more than 25 years later. The actor recently passed away at the age of 92, but his work continues to bring us smiles. and the lesson behind his reinvention on Seinfeld can be used by all of us today.

There’s never been a better time to talk about reinvention that during the craziness of the coronavirus. When things return to normal, there’s going to be a new normal. Reinvention has always been one of Cal’s specialties, and this week he chats with a woman who spent a decade researching a book about the topic. That woman is marketing guru Kathi Sharpe-Ross, and her book is called Re-Invent: Your Life, What Are You Waiting For? Kathi provides the necessary steps we all must take on the path to reinvention. Listen up. This podcast may just change your life . . .

Cal jumps on the phone with the man who helped bring The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and The Beast, Shrek and The Little Mermaid into the world. The conversation is about the new form of storytelling that Katzenberg is introducing called Quibi. That’s short for quick bites. The idea is for these stories to be filmed in bursts of eight minutes or less in order to be seen on a mobile phone when you’ve got a limited amount of free time. Cal tries to get in the swing of the short tempo with a quick phone conversation with Katzenberg. A lot can be learned very quickly.

Cal sits down with the award-winning broadcaster to talk about the loss of sporting events in our culture during the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Cal has known Bob for roughly 40 years since they both moved to St. Louis to start their careers, and this conversation looks deeply at what has happened to the truth in America over that time . . . along with the gifts that sports bring to us.

Cal sits with Brian Kelly to talk about what the future will hold for aviation and travel once the coronavirus pandemic is past and we can all take to the skies again. Brian is the CEO of The Points Guy, a company at the epicenter of the travel industry with the best deals on airline miles, credit cards and travel as a whole. This episode will make anybody who yearns to travel again see the blue skies ahead.