Big Questions with Cal Fussman

Cal looks back at some of the best nuggets of wisdom he's received from women on Big Questions over the last two years, and passes them on to you. A holiday gift for every day of the week. Here are the moments we're including in today's episode. You can share these gifts with the people you care about by sending them an AirrQuote link. Anyone can click on the link and instantly listen to that particular moment. The first is from Bruce Lee's daughter. Gift from Shannon Lee: Break with Tradition The second is from the president of Aston Martin Gift from Laura Schwab: Learning, from the Ground Up The third is from the author of Confidence Creator Gift from Heather Monahan: Negotiation Skill The fourth is from the CEO of Soul Cycle Gift from Melanie Whelan: Mentorship The fifth is from the singer of Fight Song Gift from Rachel Platten: Music, Courage, and Vulnerability The sixth is from the amazing long-distance swimmer Gift from Diana Nyad: Resolve And the seventh is from a woman trying to save the oceans Gift from Daniela Fernandez: Million Dollar Dream You can sample these gifts by clicking these links from Airr. And if you like the idea behind AirrQuotes and want to create and share your own for free, go to https://www.airr.io/cal Plus, you can use Airr's technology to tweet your favorite Big Questions moments @calfussman for a chance to win your own Sportiqe apparel. Enjoy the takeaways!

Listeners of Big Questions who first heard Cal tell stories on Tim Ferriss's podcast often reach out to Cal and ask him to tell more stories. Cal's Santa Suit story goes back almost a quarter of a century and is timed perfectly to the season. There's plenty of laughs and merriment, along with a takeaway that if you wait out a string of bad luck, there will be prosperous days ahead.

Cal sits with his pal after a party thrown by the Friars Club commemorated a birthday that many thought Larry might not be around to celebrate. For many months, Larry battled a series of major illnesses that nearly took his life. But Larry's indomitable will kept him going. Now he's out of the hospital, and working again. A look back at an extraordinary evening becomes Cal's most memorable podcast.

Cal catches up with his pal, Gator Halpern, months after 200-mile-an-hour winds and a 25-foot tidal wave by the name of Hurricane Dorian whipped into The Bahamas and destroyed the coral farm Gator established to save the reefs that protect the shores. Part of the reason we're seeing this storm damage year after year is the weakening of our barrier reefs – which Gator is fighting to fend off. He's developed a technology to grow coral 50 times faster than it would ordinarily, and he can put it through boot camp so that it will survive as the temperature of the oceans rise. This is the story of ferocious destruction and an unyielding spirit that fights on to heal the planet. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to give thanks for that spirit.

Cal sits with his old pal, Tom Junod, after they see a preview of the upcoming movie about the children's television host that stars Tom Hanks. A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is based on the Esquire Magazine cover story that Junod wrote in 1998, and Junod's friendship with Mr. Rogers in the years that followed. While the film creates a tortured relationship between Junod and his dad to advance the plot, there was actually tremendous tension in Tom's life as a writer for Esquire when the story was published that was not known even to his closest friends. Cal was startled, at times, during this talk with his friend of three decades – a conversation that will allow everyone to see the upcoming movie in a new light.

Summit events have impacted countless lives through the power of connection – as they've grown from a gathering of 20 entrepreneurs back in 2008 into a community of 20,000 today. Billion-dollar companies have gotten off the ground because of friendships made at Summit events. Academy-award winning films have been created out of bonds formed at Summit. The collaborative spirit became fully apparent to Cal when he was invited to give a talk at a Summit event four years ago. That talk changed Cal's life and ultimately led to the creation of this podcast. Cal catches up with Jeff Rosenthal, one of the four founders, to talk about the thinking that turned Summit from a single event to a home for entrepreneurs on Powder Mountain in Utah . . . and all the positive social causes embraced along the way.

Cal sits with investment guru Charles Schwab on the stage at the Money 2020 conference in Las Vegas to discuss the philosophies behind his success and how all of us need to look at retirement in an age when we may live 20 years longer than we expected. Plenty of takeaways from the man who's gotten through a series of stock market bubbles while increasing the value of his company 21,000 percent over the last three decades. You read that right. Twenty-one thousand percent!

Cal gets together with Dr. Reagan Anderson for a look at the difficulties of being a doctor in this day and age. This is a conversation that everyone in America needs to hear. On average, one doctor commits suicide in the United States every day – which is the highest suicide rate of any profession. Reagan served as a surgeon for the U.S. military in Iraq and is now a dermatologist with a clinic in Colorado Springs – and he senses some profound overlaps. Even as health care provides daily miracles, Reagan shows Cal the difficulties and pressures created by the system, and why we need to rethink it. Your takeaway is to ask your doctor how she or he is doing. We need to care for the people care for us. Or else who is going to care for us in the future?

While doing a storytelling workshop, Cal meets Shirzad Chamine, the chairman of CTI, the largest coach and training company in the world. CTI has trained execs and managers at most of the Fortune 500 companies, as well as faculty at Yale and Stanford Business Schools. Cal is immediately enthralled with the way Shirzad uses positive energy to lift the workshop. He inquires and learns that Shirzad has a program that enables people to locate their inner saboteurs and defeat them. Cal takes the short test available to everybody over the internet and comes face to face with his own inner saboteurs. You'll find out how you can locate yours and take them down, as well.

Cal sees a report that the President has just joined the live-streaming video platform Twitch and senses that it's time to air the podcast he did with a man who advised him to jump into the future of video games. Scott Novis, formerly Vice President and General Manager of Disney Interactive, founded a company called GameTruck to bring video game parties to millions of kids. Scott tells Cal he should pay attention to the new form of communication practiced by these gamers, and Cal realizes that Scott is right when Scott asks a question that is relevant to all of us. "What can put you out of business down the road?"