Big Questions with Cal Fussman

After one of Cal's friends with a rare disease tells Cal that Dr. Gundry's dietary advice saved his life, Cal seeks out Gundry to uncover the doctor's backstory. He's astonished to find out about the sacrifices Dr. Gundry made when he left his position as chairman of cardiothoracic surgery at Loma Linda University to counsel patients on improving their health through diet and supplements. Dr. Gundry and his wife, Penny, ran through their retirement savings and suffered through a decade of financial hardship while the doctor helped patients with advice on what to put in their guts rather than operating on their hearts. His research and self-experimentation with supplements ultimately led Dr. Gundry to write The Plant Paradox, which turned into a New York Times bestseller, and three other best-sellers that have bloomed into a business offering supplements and dietary advice that has now touched around 100 million lives and created 600 jobs. This conversation may make you see the possibilities in your own life. That's what it did for Cal.

When Shannon Lee passes on this nugget of wisdom from her dad: "To change with change is the changeless state," Cal is no longer the same... and becomes even more Cal at the same time. Bruce Lee is famous for his fighting roles in films beloved around the world dating back to the early 70s -- like Fist of Fury and Enter The Dragon. But underneath the images that made him iconic is a philosophy of breaking tradition and constantly moving himself -- and society -- to new places. His ideas and work have affected culture in areas as diverse as film, music, video games, mixed martial arts, break dancing, body building and nutrition. Shannon Lee shows Cal how to use her dad's underlying philosophy in daily life – which leads Cal to an epiphany. And this conversation just may create a personal breakthrough for anybody who listens.

Cal sits with the man who has helped candidates win 1,200 elections to talk about the impact of storytelling on our politics and businesses in a time of huge disruption. The takeaways include the way Donald Trump was able to win the presidency by merging big data, social media and branding; how businesses need to understand their customers the way a great political campaign understands its voters; and how this will become even more important for businesses in the next ten years as Artificial Intelligence disrupts our landscape. With each passing day, telling the impactful story becomes more and more essential -- which is music to Cal's ears.

Simon talks about the theme of his upcoming book -- and his message hits Cal's ears like a symphony. Perhaps this should've been expected. The concept behind Simon's book, Start With Why, led to a Ted talk that reached 42 million people. And Leaders Eat Last was a New York Times bestseller. The Infinite Game shows us that business should not be treated like it's in a sporting event that has a definite period of time and ends with a win or a loss. If we do treat our business like it's in a sporting event, Simon warns, there will be a decline in trust, a decline in cooperation and a decline in innovation. Simon makes a case that the most successful companies now tend to be guided by leaders with an infinite mindset. There are so many takeaways in this episode that it might be wise to pull out a notepad before you get started.

Cal checks in with one of his favorite people in the world, 25-year-old Daniela Fernandez, who has devoted her life to saving the world's oceans. If you don't think that's important, it'd be wise to look at some facts. There's an island of garbage twice the size of Texas in the Pacific Ocean, which may be a long way from where you are right now but it affects you. Fifty percent of the oxygen we breathe is created by the ocean. That's every second breath you take. We're slowly choking ourselves. The non-profit organization that Daniela founded to heal the oceans, Sustainable Ocean Alliance, was down to its last penny when an anonymous donation of $1 million came to the rescue. This is an awesome story of a young woman's unwavering devotion to make a difference, and how the world will be changed because of her. Applying her mindset just might allow you to do the extraordinary, as well.

Arizona State Futurist in Residence Brian David Johnson explains to Cal why we will not be using keyboards in the near future; and how they are slowing us down anyway. Old School Cal gets an hour of what the future will be like — and, surprisingly, he likes it!

Cal sits down with a national treasure, George Raveling, to talk about some of the impactful moments of George's life. That includes the day in August of 1963 when George was a bodyguard on stage as Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his I Have A Dream speech. As Dr. King folded the speech and walked off stage, George asked Dr. King if he could have it and Dr. King handed it to him. George would become basketball coach at Washington State, Iowa and USC, a coach on the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team that contained Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and a member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. This episode of Big Questions focuses on George through his love of books. Few people appreciate books the way George Raveling does. George is often seen walking around with shopping bags full of them that he hands out to friends. There are many takeaways in the way George reads books and the way he honors them. After you listen, your reading habits may never be the same.

Great movies have been made about buddy stories. Great movies have been made about love stories. This podcast has both, and is waiting to be turned into a terrific film. It's about the friendship between the comedian "Irish Dave" Nihill and the cycling guide Arash Bayatmakou – and it could be called "Stand Up." That's because of the different way the phrase applies to each of these two men. Without spoiling the movie, the story revolves around the courage we all need to move forward in frightening situations. It's got comedy. It's got a tragedy. It's got resilience. And when you add a very special woman and the attached love story, it becomes the perfect podcast for Valentine's Day.

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 is all about his passion – storytelling. Cal learns how John used rejection to create a new story that turned him into salesman of the year at Conde Nast. Cal learns how to be proactive through new forms of cold calling. Cal learns how to shape a story toward the sale and artfully close the deal. And Cal comes to understand that he had it in him all along.

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 "poop, pee and menstruation" space – founding a company called Thinx that created period-proof underwear and another called Tushy that allows people to clean themselves more efficiently over the toilet. She applies her philosophy in every aspect of life. And her book, a manifesto for the modern woman, illustrates how women will behave differently going forward. Which is a good reason for men to read it – because they're probably going to be behaving differently, as well.