Big Questions with Cal Fussman

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 history. Airbnb has transformed travel across the planet, reinventing the hotel industry by allowing people to rent out their homes and apartments in 80,000 cities in 190 countries around the world. Conley has taken the lessons from this experience and set them in his newly-released book, Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. In this episode, he shows Cal the benefits that mentorship can have for both those with youth and age. The takeaways are life-changing, and needed now more than any other time in history. As the author Yuval Noah Harari writes in his most recent book: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century: “If you try to hold on to some stable identity, job, or worldview, you risk being left behind as the world flies by you with a whoosh. Given that life expectancy is likely to increase, you might subsequently have to spend many decades as a clueless fossil. To stay relevant — not just economically but above all socially — you will need the ability to constantly learn and to reinvent yourself...” Chip’s experiences and his book show you how.

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 this episode are vast. Michael has lived through the type of experience that most of us will never know - and has come to understand life in ways that most of us were never forced to ponder. Yet, in the end, his voice is positive and reflective and offers insight to all of us on how to move forward from the most difficult of experiences.

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 environment before going off to work. Cal was startled to learn that Radha has built her Daybreaker community from scratch to half a million people. And even more astounded to learn that 1 in every 4 Americans does not have a friend to confide in. Radha’s book offers suggestions to all on the art of connection. Anyone with a business, podcast or blog who’s interested in increasing her or his audience will get many takeaways from this episode. And those feeling a bit left out will get tips on how to fit into the right community. The conversation gives Cal the idea to try to double the number of subscribers to Big Questions by asking each listener to share a meaningful episode with a single friend who might appreciate it and benefit from it. Give it a shot -- and good karma will come your way.

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 illness.   His fight contributed to the creation of a barrier on The Golden Gate Bridge that will stop others from committing suicide there in the future. TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE: Whatever your difficulties, never count yourself out. Never. Never. Never. Simply reaching out to somebody you notice in emotional pain might save his or her life. And how a 23-second hug can change your day.   That's just for starters . . . 

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 sharks and poisonous jellyfish is a profound place to start. The takeaways in this episode get to the essence of the quote: “Success is the ability to move from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm.” Diana had tried to make the same swim four times before, beginning in 1978 at the age of 28. Her triumph on the fifth attempt highlights not only her dogged persistence, but a joyful appreciation for nature that gave her a lightness which enabled her to do at 64 what she couldn’t at 28. The story of her sexual abuse as a teen, and the guilt and confusion that followed, ultimately leads to a lesson in how to find a way past emotional pain to freedom. The story of how she sang her way across the 110 miles gives us all a formula for fighting off drudgery with passion. We find out how age has turned Diana into a better athlete — just as it can for you. We also learn about the appreciation and gratitude Diana's held for her team that supported her every stroke of the way. This is useful to all of us as we look upon those who lift us in our own lives.         All this is just for starters . . .   TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE: Why age has made Diana a better athlete Coping with sexual abuse What is takes to plan a 110-Mile swim... 5 times!

The founder of Not Impossible Labs tips off his next landmark invention: a band that can stop tremors caused by Parkinson’s Disease. Not Impossible Labs has previously invented a device that allowed a paralyzed graffiti artist to create art using only his eyes, and 3-D printed prosthetic arms for those who’ve had their limbs blown off during the civil war in Sudan. The device that can curtail the tremors of those afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease is Mick Ebeling’s latest proof that anything we can imagine we can create.   TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE: How redefining the word “impossible” can make anything possible. How committing to a goal before you know how to achieve it can jumpstart your journey toward it, and push you past the obstacles that will arise. How trying to solve one impossible problem can lead you to solving another. How you can incorporate Mick’s philosophy into your own life and do things you never imagined you could do.

Jocko Willink, the former Navy Seal Commander, explains how his fundamental laws of combat translate into leadership in business, and gets Cal to wonder how he might incorporate aspects of military training into his own life.    Takeaways from this episode: How to create a team where everybody leads. How to get in people’s heads to make them see things they wouldn’t have seen otherwise. The value of keeping communications simple — and how good questions can simplify a complicated plan. Prioritizing tasks and executing them.

Cal gets a glimpse of the future from psychologist Linda Papadopoulos as she breaks the news about life-sized robots now being manufactured to the buyers' individual tastes. These robots are built not only as the sexual partners of our dreams. They can be programmed to say what we want to hear, to read our expressions, and to respond in a way that will make us feel better. Not only that, but they can store information to enhance future experiences. Cal is still picking his jaw off the floor and pondering questions that come out of some of the takeaways.   TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE: In a world where people are feeling more and more isolated and alone, will large numbers of people begin moving toward a doll with Artificial Intelligence that's programmed to say only what each of us wants to hear? In an age when people are accustomed to swiping left or right, will the next evolutionary step be simply ordering a manufactured partner that has ALL the characteristics that we want?   If, as Papadopoulos says, we’re playing catch up with understanding how Artificial Intelligence affects us now, how will we cope when AI begins to understand us better than we do and then moves forward exponentially?   It gets spookier and spookier. And there’s a lot more . . . 

Cal discovers how the best-selling author, investor, financial analyst, blogger, podcaster and delightful conversationalist once reduced all his worldly possessions to15 items that could fit in a small satchel that he carried with him from Airbnb to Airbnb. A tad extreme, yes, but the takeaways on discipline can elevate anybody's life.   TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE: What James learned from giving up everything -- it wasn't all positive! Tips for downsizing your belongings, how to choose what stays and what goes, and best of all how to make best use of the things you keep. How the "access economy" is superseding the "ownership economy" and what that means in practical terms.

Reboot your childhood curiosity just like Cal did, by listening to 8-year-old Eva Karpman, who's asked questions to General Stanley McChrystal, best-selling author Simon Sinek, and billionaires for her Dream Big podcast.   Takeaways from this episode: How to regain the magical curiosity that most adults have lost. Tapping into your curiosity to drive your work and career to new heights. There is always more to be curious about, more to learn, more to do. How to have more fun in your life, just by being more curious.