Big Questions With Cal Fussman

Cal does the podcast he wishes he never had to do: Advice on surviving a nuclear attack. Hopefully, this scenario will never occur. But there have been a great deal of surprises throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it’s wise to take a few moments to think about the unthinkable. This podcast looks at selecting a shelter, at supplies to store, and it offers tips like not going out in the rain for days afterward to avoid radiation that might fall on your head – even if you’re hundreds of miles from the blast. And if you’re showering to wash away nuclear debris, it’s okay to use soap and shampoo – but not hair conditioner. Conditioner will bond radiation particles to your hair. Not a pleasant topic. But you’ll be better off for listening.

Cal looks at the invasion of The Ukraine through the question that he’s been focusing on in healthcare: How can we eliminate the problem before it happens? As it turns out, there may have been a way to avoid the carnage almost 20 years ago with some innovative thinking that could’ve put the The Ukraine in a very different place. We’ll never know. But Cal throws out an example of using the question and some innovative thinking to eliminate our problems in all aspects of life before they happen.

After tasting and loving an Olipop root beer, Cal tracks down the company’s co-founder and CEO to find out how it came about. Olipop beverages are made from ingredients like kudzu root, slippery elm bark and Jerusalem artichoke. You’re drinking plant fiber instead of high fructose corn syrup. There are few calories and very little sugar. Olipop beverages come in many flavors, and are in supermarkets all over America, and they’re an example of how an individual and one company can impact lives. This is going to be big.

The United States is one million nurses short and you don’t want to begin appreciating nurses only when you don’t have one when you need one. Cal talks with Lori Armstrong, who runs Inspire Nurse Leaders, about the nursing shortage that’s been exacerbated by departures during two years of relentless pressure on the front lines of healthcare. Lori is trying to solve the problem at an advanced level. But we can all do something. If you know a nurse, find a small way to make her or his day a little better. Just a little attention might reduce a lot of tension as we think about how to solve the problem.

The release of Carl’s memoir, Chasing History, seems like the ideal time to ask the renowned Washington Post reporter and now CNN commentator about the health of our democracy over the last 60 years. Bernstein’s book looks at the start of his career from 1960-1965, when he began as a freckled copy boy, before his reporting with Bob Woodward of the Watergate break-in and its subsequent cover-up forced President Nixon to resign. The conversation spans from Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have A Dream speech at The Lincoln Memorial to the mob storming of The Capitol on January 6, 2021. It leaves Cal and the rest of us wondering about the future.

While speaking at a retreat for a group of investors, Cal asks about a basic educational guide to the stock market and saving money to make sure that any health care needs at the end of life can easily be met. He’s turned on to The Personal Finance Club course and Jeremy Schneider. Which leads to this conversation. Anyone looking for a clear and time-tested way to save a nest egg will be happy they tuned into this week’s podcast.

Cal looks back on experiences he’s had with Muhammad Ali, Kobe Bryant and Larry King as a way of seeing forward into his journey to reshape healthcare. A story about Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have A Dream Speech is also included in this episode. Each remembrance shows us how a tiny action – an introduction, a suggestion or a boost during a scary moment can be so impactful, and each reminds us how to get the most out of our lives.

Cal talks with the author of The Super Age, Decoding Our Demographic Destiny, about what our future looks like as America becomes an older nation as opposed to a younger one for the first time in its history. Bradley uses data from the past to predict what’s coming and the results of this conversation are shocking to Cal. According to Bradley, the best is yet to come. Get ready to be optimistic.

Nido came to study in the United States from the Middle East when he was 17 years old with $50 in his pocket and built an extraordinary life through High Point University in North Carolina – where he is now president. During the last 17 years, Nido has grown the university from 90 acres to 500, from 18 buildings to 128 and from 1,400 students to 6,000. He talks about the power a strong home has over our attitude and behavior, and gives Cal and listeners tools to build and grow any enterprise. This episode is a feast of wisdom. 

The CEO of one of America’s most innovative creative companies, Mekanism, shows Cal how to build a campaign through understanding an audience. This is new territory for Cal, who’s spent a lifetime asking questions of people who’ve built great things – without ever having built anything himself. As Cal sets off on his journey to try to reshape healthcare, he knows he will have to build a platform. Jason sets the groundwork, and shows everybody how to shape their own messaging by using the right questions.

Cal checks in with the author of The Third Door, and comes away with two tools that can help anybody who feels stuck in life get to a better place. (And in times of COVID, there are plenty of people who feel stuck.) The tools are called The Sun and The Clouds and The Thirty-Day Challenge, and they don’t require much time. Even if you don’t think you need them, they just may surprise you and take you to an intriguing place. Or you could pass them on to somebody who is unmistakably stuck and definitely needs them. Either way, these tools will lead to a clearer New Year.

Mental health gets closer to home for Cal when a young acquaintance is brought to tears with harmful thoughts in front of Cal’s house. This, after suicide and attempts shook a nearby college campus. It’s clear that a huge number of people are dealing with mental health issues that are not being treated or acknowledged. Cal talks with Kevin Hines, who has devoted his life to suicide prevention after attempting to take his own life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, about what we all can do to help. Awareness is key. The information Kevin passes on could save somebody’s life.

Cal learns how we all can bring some happiness into our lives from a man who became a national and international whistling champion. Chris Ullman has whistled in the Oval Office, whistled on The Today Show and The Tonight Show, and whistled with a symphony orchestra in front of 60,000 people. His message boils down to this: It’s hard to be unhappy when you’re whistling a happy tune. Chris brings joy to people almost every day with a Happy Birthday serenade. It will be hard for you to walk away from this episode without whistling yourself.

Cal hears a story about a guy who got seriously ill on vacation, and how, after he survived, the experience ultimately changed his diet and made him determined to clean out the chemicals in his body. When you hear the story, it may make you think about the way you take care of your own body. We get haircuts and buy products to groom our skin. But what if we put that care into our insides?

Cal talks with a man who’s devoted his life’s work to the study of this scary disease, and Patrick Sullivan comes through with tips on how to keep it away. One important factor is making sure your hearing, and that of your parents, doesn’t decline. Research shows that if hearing loss is not treated it can significantly increase the possibility of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Cal brings in the CEO of MDHearingAid, Doug Breaker, to share experiences from his family and offer some solutions. This podcast may be a huge benefit to your parents – and you.

Cal celebrates his birthday to find an unexpected gift. It’s a book written by Marc Champagne called: Personal Socrates: Questions That Will Upgrade Your Life from Legends & World Class Performers. Cal opens the book and is surprised to find that the first chapter is about HIM. Other chapters are run through the prism of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, the writer Maya Angelou, the broadcaster Larry King, novelist Jane Austin, Steve Jobs, the physicist Steven Hawking and the comedian Robin Williams. Pretty good company. Cal’s conversation with the book’s author revolves around the clarity that arises from good questions.

Cal gets a windfall when he listens to the strategy that takes Lisa Gable where she wants to go. And Lisa’s gone to some incredible places. The author of Turnaround has served four presidents, raised about a half billion dollars and stitched together a coalition of food and beverage industry corporations with public health agencies that led to the reduction of 6.4 trillion calories from the collective American diet. Her strategy immediately points Cal to the right places, and it may do the same for you.

As Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski heads into his 47th and final year of coaching college basketball, Cal goes to the archives to play a conversation with the Hall of Fame coach that he had ten years ago. It’s filled with the ingredients of success, and touches on topics like time, money, support, mentorship, passion, love, friendship, preparation, fear, honor, failure, truth and family. This conversation will be just as valuable fifty years from now.

As Cal becomes riveted with the Hulu series Dopesick about the drug company that created OxyContin and addicted a chunk of America, he speaks with a man in recovery from a decade of opioid addiction for insight. Ryan Hampton courageously opens up and explains how he became addicted, what it was like and how the bankruptcy of Purdue Pharma failed the victims of the opioid crisis that has killed half a million Americans and addicted millions. Buckle your seat belt for this one.

When Cal wonders how much money Americans annually spend on Halloween, he’s directed to the author of Salt Sugar Fat and Hooked: Food, Free Will, And How The Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions. Cal finds out that kids consume what amounts to 169 sugar cubes each Halloween, but Moss shocks him with a most unexpected thought. That Halloween is fine. It’s the other 364 days in a year that we really have to worry about. Mandatory listening for your family’s health.