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 shor...
Oct 22, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 93
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 S...
Oct 15, 2019•44 min•Ep. 92
Cal heard about the growth hacker who’s worked with Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Michael Strahan, and also built a 7-figure social media following for himself in one month. And he figured it might be a good thing to get a glimpse of this world. But this podcast didn’t turn out quite like Cal figured, as Brendan posed questions that made Cal think about what he actually wanted to do with those followers. In the end, Cal doesn’t get a lesson in hauling in a million followers. He’s pointed toward magn...
Oct 08, 2019•59 min•Ep. 91
Cal learns what can be accomplished when the right two people come together as he gets to the essence of his sponsor: Sportiqe. Matt Altman and Jason Franklin, two guys who grew up thousands of miles apart, trace the backstory of their clothing company with moments that touch back on Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z, the great Chicago Bulls teams with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, and much more. So many serendipitous moments are woven together, and they all seem to prove that when passion,...
Oct 01, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 90
Tim Campos doubled productivity for Facebook while he was Chief Information Officer between 2010 and 2016. Now, Tim tries to do the same for Cal by introducing him to his latest project: Woven. Woven is a state-of-the-art digital calendar that we can all use to get the most out of our time while studying the analytics behind how we’re using our most precious resource. Tim’s company in the testing phase and Woven is free for all who want to give it a test drive. Old school Cal puts the pedal to t...
Sep 24, 2019•37 min•Ep. 89
The CEO of CatalystCreativ was the spark for a huge change in Cal’s business and life — and this conversation gets to finding the essence in yourself and using it to be your best. It also applies to companies. Amanda has worked on projects with WeWork, Coca Cola, The Raiders and The Nature Conservancy, and designed a strategy that transforms businesses through meaningful engagement with customers and employees. The recipe to her company’s secret sauce is detailed in her upcoming book: The Sevent...
Sep 17, 2019•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 88
Cal learns he can be way more persuasive than he ever thought when he sits at The Big Table in the office of Jason Harris, the CEO of Mekanism. Jason’s company has been named the small agency of the year by Ad Age. It has famously linked up with the White House under President Obama to create the “It’s On Us” campaign to raise awareness of sexual assault on college campuses. And Jason’s got a book out called The Soulful Art of Persuasion that a Harvard business professor has called the modern ve...
Sep 10, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 87
The lead singer of O.A.R. clues Cal in to the business philosophies that have kept Of A Revolution thriving for nearly a quarter of a century. Any stereotype of dreamy artists is swiftly put to rest as Marc explains the constant vigilance all the band members throw into their work to keep the seats filled and their loyal fans coming back year after year after year. These lessons are applicable not only to Cal’s new business helping companies tell their stories. But they apply to anybody on the j...
Aug 27, 2019•56 min•Ep. 86
Cal gets tips on getting all those dings, notifications and technological distractions out of his life from a man who has spent much of his career making people yearn for more technology. Many takeaways in this conversation with the author of the upcoming book, Indistractable , are about controlling your attention and leading a clearer and more focused life. It’s just the advice Cal needs now that he’s a CEO. Everyone who listens will come away a winner.
Aug 20, 2019•48 min•Ep. 85
Cal poses the question after hearing the wondrous story of Dr. Sabrina Kay – who came to the U.S. from South Korea while in college without speaking English, started out as a janitor and began an entrepreneurial journey that took her to the cover of Fortune Magazine. By the time she’d reached her 30s, Sabrina had amassed enough wealth so that neither she – nor any of her family members – ever needed to work again. But that was only the beginning. Sabrina went on to get a master’s degree at USC a...
Aug 13, 2019•56 min•Ep. 84
Cal looks back on the most amazing thing he’s ever seen in his life, August 7, 1974, when a French street performer named Philippe Petit secretly rigged a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center and walked on it 1,300 feet above the ground. There are many lessons to be learned from Philippe’s feat, which took place 45 years ago, and Cal has mined for them through at least a dozen viewings of the documentary Man on Wire and the feature film called The Walk. The British mogul Richar...
Aug 06, 2019•26 min•Ep. 83
That’s right, Matt Pohlson. Cal sits with the founder of Omaze, a company that has helped raise $130 million for roughly 350 charities through donations made by people looking for a chance to win once in a lifetime experiences with the people they dream of meeting. Drink wine with Jennifer Lawrence. Get in a tank with Arnold Schwarzenegger and go crush things. Go on a double date with George and Amal Clooney. These events can lead to extraordinary stories. When Matt tells them they get better an...
Jul 30, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 82
Not long ago, the New Orleans Pelicans won the National Basketball Association’s draft lottery and selected one of the most unique young talents in the league’s history: Zion Williamson. As we see in this week’s episode, the executive in charge of putting together that team, David Griffin, has created a life out of being around the right people. How else would an intern in a media relations department rise to running an NBA team? Griff’s backstory makes us all wonder about the people we meet and...
Jul 23, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 81
Jeff Civillico has a superpower that makes people pay attention within three seconds. That’s why he’s got a show on The Strip at Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and has been named Entertainer of the Year by Vegas Inc. Cal learned precisely how important Jeff’s superpower is last week when Tim Staples laid out the secrets to going viral on the Internet. Jeff is a juggler, but more than that, he uses his ability to immediately connect with people as a sought-after speaker and host. Jeff has pl...
Jul 16, 2019•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 80
On any given day, the odds of making it to the front page of YouTube are one in 2 million. Tim, and his company, Shareability, have done this 35 times. When the student is ready, the master appears. So Cal sets off on his journey into social media with Tim as his guide alongside the launch of Tim’s book: Break Through The Noise, The 9 Rules to Capture Global Attention. Tim has created viral videos with soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and mesmerized millions with a video of dogs using hands to eat ...
Jul 09, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 79
Cal catches up with his old pal, and author of the Barbecue Bible. Roughly 20 years ago, Cal sought out Steven to learn how to grill and smoke in order to write a story for Esquire Magazine. With one day of training and a lot of subsequent practice, Cal went on to compete in the Jack Daniel’s World Barbecue Championship in Lynchburg, Tennessee, where judge (and author) Clive Cussler declared that Cal’s roasted apples with cinnamon were “better than sex.” Steven has sold more than 5 million books...
Jul 02, 2019•57 min
Cal is on the lookout for an Aha! Moment when he sits with the high-performance psychologist – Dr. Michael Gervais. That’s because whenever Cal talks with Michael, a life-changing moment seems to materialize. A couple of years ago, Cal was invited on Michael’s Finding Mastery podcast to discuss how he interviewed the icons who’d shaped the last half century of world history for Esquire Magazine. During that conversation, Cal and Michael discussed the differences between interviewing as a journal...
Jun 25, 2019•53 min•Ep. 77
Cal thanks Tim Ferriss for pushing him to start his podcast by helping two young guys who recently took leave from Harvard to get their tech start-up going. Sam Rukeyser and Dave Lu have come up with a platform that allows podcast listeners to save the snippets they like in podcasts and even send them to friends and family through all manner of social media. Their company is called Airr, the technology is free, and listeners of Big Questions will be granted early access to it by going to https:/...
Jun 18, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 76
Cal has a transformative moment in a conversation with a recent inductee in the Advertising Hall of Fame – Michael Kassan. The talk goes back to the days when Cal was educated in journalism school never to go to the other side of The Wall that separated editorial and sales. This education kept Cal from publicizing himself and associating with advertisers even as the Internet changed the landscape of communication. For years, Cal struggled with social media and self-promotion. But the conversatio...
Jun 11, 2019•47 min•Ep. 75
In our mean-spirited times, Cal steps into a conversation about kindness and receives a most thoughtful gift. Dete Meserve, the CEO of Wind Dancer Films and author of the books Good Sam and Random Acts of Kindness, shows Cal how the same skills and talents he used as a writer for decades can also serve him as a CEO. The epiphany comes at just the right time, as Cal sprinted toward his goal as CEO to raise a million dollars in new revenue for his business by the end of May. For Cal, the gift is l...
Jun 04, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 74
Cal touches on the story of two brothers from Needham, Massachusetts, Bert and Johnny Jacobs, who converted their eternal optimism into a t-shirt business that is now a burgeoning company which provides assistance to a million children every year. It wasn’t easy at the start. The brothers spent five years driving around the country in a van trying to sell their t-shirts -- with little success. After five years they had a combined $78 between them. But then the smiling face of a character they ca...
May 28, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 73
Cal meets his polar opposite: The Boss in Heals. Heather Monahan. Whereas Cal was told as a writer in Journalism School never to sell, Heather came up on the sales side being told not to think of herself as a creative talent. She rose up the corporate ladder to become Chief Revenue Officer of the Beasley Media Group with 500 people working for her and was named one of the most influential women in radio only to see her job eliminated in a power struggle. But she used that tumultuous experience t...
May 21, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 72
Cal looks at how John Rampton made millions by becoming one of the top online influencers in the world – tracing Rampton’s ascent back to an accident in college that left John bedridden in a hospital for months. John learned to master social media in that hospital bed, and he shows Cal how “giving away the farm” on the Internet is a gift that just keeps on giving through success and hard times. The founder and chief of online companies like Calendar and Due tells Cal he has numerical proof of th...
May 14, 2019•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 71
Cal sits with Muhammad’s daughter, Hana, almost three years after his passing to talk about her dad. Hana has just written a book called At Home With Muhammad Ali, and this conversation looks at what life was like in the moments when the cameras weren’t around. There are happy moments – seeing her dad stuffing his mouth with bubble gum as if he were a big kid. There are beautiful moments – the way Muhammad took homeless people into his own home because he believed unoccupied rooms were a sin. Th...
May 07, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 70
When Cal turns into a salesman to try to generate a million dollars in new business by the end of May, he is unprepared for the constant buzzing of his cellphone and the new lifestyle this brings. When it begins to feel like his brain has fragmented into 500 pieces, Cal reaches out to his pal, The Monk Dandapani, for lessons on how to focus and concentrate. The world-renowned monk gives Cal advice on harnessing his energy, that can lift everybody’s life.
Apr 30, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 69
When Cal needs to develop a business strategy for his new company, James comes to the rescue. Altucher has started many businesses over the years, making millions, losing millions, making more millions, losing more millions and making more millions. A prolific blogger and podcaster, author, angel investor and owner of a comedy club in New York where he often appears, James shows Cal how to define, shape and monetize his new business helping companies tell their stories. The strategy session is a...
Apr 23, 2019•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 68
Cal gets the skinny on a new program that helps people lose weight. It’s not a diet (95 percent of diets do not work). There are no pills. The Reverse Approach was created by Mordechai Wiener while dropping from 330 pounds to 197. By listening to the stories of people who’ve lost a lot of weight and kept it off, you can adapt their successful habits into your own life. The concept is to slowly transform your body through understanding how you feel about yourself and then adjusting your habits. A...
Apr 16, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 67
The international best-selling author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do gives Cal some lessons on training your brain for happiness and success. And it couldn’t have come at a better time for Cal, who was recently challenged to lift his game as a CEO . . . and responded with an outlandish goal of bringing in a million dollars of new revenue by the end of May . . . without having the slightest idea how he was going to do it. Once she hears Cal’s background, Amy, a psychotherapist, actu...
Apr 09, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 66
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 financ...
Apr 02, 2019•54 min•Ep. 65
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...
Mar 26, 2019•58 min•Ep. 64
