Big Questions with Cal Fussman

Cal goes to his personal archives to pull up some thoughts from the body builder, movie star and former governor of California. This includes an epiphany on how the line “I’ll be back” came about in The Terminator. Arnold also talks about the self-improvement regimen than made him who he came to be. And Cal looks to shape these thoughts on his own journey to improve health care. Listeners can use Arnold’s nuggets of wisdom to get the most out of their lives, too.

Cal talks with his dad, Herbert Fussman, about their experience battling through Herb’s case of COVID not long after he’d fractured his pelvis. The battle was fought at Herb’s home. After one doctor started a sentence with the words: “Either you’re going to be dead in four days or . . . “ there were nights when Herb coughed for eight hours straight. With steady steps forward, though, some great advice and tactics, Herb came through. We’re happy to celebrate with you.

Cal talks with Mirthell and Rita Onyx about how they overcame frustrations in their working life by following a desire to spend time with their four children, creating YouTube programming as a family that has now been seen by three billion people and made millions. Rita and Mirthell give Cal many ideas on how to take the platform he’s designing to reshape healthcare to the masses, and they show every listener how research and tenacity can turn an idea into a future that couldn’t be imagined.

While Cal has interviewed many of the icons of the last 75 years, there are a few people he always wanted to meet. One of them is the author of his favorite book, One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The Colombian won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982 and passed away in 2014. Cal was recently introduced to Marquez’s son, Rodrigo Garcia, the award-winning filmmaker. Turned out the two had been living a few blocks away from each other, and the conversation between them made Cal feel like he’d been a friend of the family for more than half a century.

Cal gets some tips from the all-star coach, Roger Love, on how to get the most out of your voice. Roger got started with musical legends like The Jackson Five, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys and Luther Vandross – and he still works with musicians. But over time, he branched out to assist folks like the motivational speaker Tony Robbins and the model and television star Tyra Banks. Roger shows how the pitch, tone and the melody of our voices can be more impactful than the words we’re communicating. He’s also offering a gift certificate to any listener of Big Questions who wants to get the most out of their voice. Check it out.

Cal finally catches up to The Mysterious Blonde almost 50 years after she appeared in the film American Graffiti. Suzanne Somers tells Cal about her complicated path to self-worth. It starts with standing up for herself in a contract dispute once she made it big on the sitcom Three’s Company. Which leads to her being released from the show. Which results in her becoming a Vegas headliner. And then, after Suzanne is struck by breast cancer, she morphs into an author of health-related books that reach millions. The assistance she’s given to so many as a spokesperson for good health has shown her the meaning of her life. It’s a story and a lesson that comes at the perfect time for Cal –- and maybe, you, too.

Cal hears the story of a man who leveraged 15 empty seconds on an automotive assembly line to create businesses that have made many, many, many millions. The formula that Joe Chura, CEO of Dealer Inspire, has developed can be applied by anybody, and Cal is going to use it on his quest to reshape healthcare. Listen up, and change your life.

With 1,200 election victories that arc from the House of Representatives to the Presidency of The United States, Phillip Stutts has seen how elections are won by both parties. He says the formula is always the same, and he defines it in his book: The Undefeated Marketing System: How to Grow Your Business and Build Your Audience Using the Secret Formula That Elects Presidents. It’s also, Phillip shows Cal, a way to get the most out of your health.

As we begin to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel, Cal converses with the legendary singer/songwriter of American Pie and Vincent about the blessings of freedom and connectivity. Along the way, as they talk about music, Don tells Cal about the feeling that goes through him when a great song gets off the ground.  “Most music you hear lays there. It’s nothing. You don’t want to hear it again. It’s a nice try, but it’s a strikeout. Then there’s stuff that lives.”  Leaving Cal wondering about what it’s going to take to get out a message about reshaping healthcare that will have the same impact as a song everyone loves to sing 50 years after its creation.

Ever since Cal began to look into healthcare, people have been e-mailing him and asking him to compare the system in the U.S. to that of other countries around the world. Cal talks with Israeli actress and producer Noa Tishby to get a comparison. Tishby is the author of the just released book, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country On Earth. This conversation explains why Pfizer and Moderna used Israel as a testing ground for their COVID vaccines, and looks at characteristics in the Israeli system that we might find desirable.