Equal Matters

Fifty-minute talk-therapy isn’t the only option. Alisa Donaldson on depth, mind-body connection, and why it’s time to drag your inner "exiles" into the game. Too often, we resort to a one-size-fits-all approach. In school, everyone is supposed to sit at their desks listening quietly to the lesson. In business, “this is how we do it” is repeated over and over again. Which is where Alisa Donaldson c...

Joel Block has beaten Vegas, Real Estate, and Wall Street. “ It's people that play with an advantage. And I was always called an Advantage Player because as a youngster, I was a professional blackjack player.” That turned Joel into a relentless dealmaker. Someone we can learn from. He’s raised hundreds of millions of dollars and worked on huge deals. Now, he specializes in teaching elite performer...

Tom Roberts has learned ‘flow’ the hard way, by driving his race car off the track. Before that, he was one with his Porsche. As he was grooving along the track, passing cars, his coach said, “Tom, keep this up, and we’ll be on the podium.” He immediately saw champagne bottles popping. That’s when he slid off the track. Turns out, he had crashed out of flow. His journey into flow is unique. A dent...

Beks Roen has been reading since they were eighteen months old. Grew up the kid of a pastor. Got baptized in front of a couple thousand people and smacked the bishop across the face on the way out. None of that explains why total strangers, after watching Beks play Romeo in a New Hampshire forest this summer, kept telling them the same thing afterward: this felt different. In this episode, actor,...

What does it take to stop fitting in and start setting the standard? In this episode, Rob takes us to a nondescript strip mall in Sedona, Arizona, sandwiched between a Whole Foods and a crystal shop, to break down a masterclass in industry disruption: VESPA Healthy Italian Café . By drawing a vivid line between the copy-paste predictability of corporate dining and VESPA’s bold, intentional, 72-hou...

“Most of what we do is guesswork,” my doctor told me. I was in for my annual 15-minute physical. “Everyone is different,” he added. “We look at the labs, tap into our knowledge, and do our best to get you healthy.” I appreciate his honesty in exposing the reality of medicine. Thanks to insurance models, healthcare operates like a drive-thru. Patients come in and out, rushing through their menu of...

Small business owners I know are all struggling. “It’s harder to get the word out,” I’ve heard numerous times. Makes sense. We’re constantly bombarded with ads. The ad noise is less impactful than ever. Dave noticed a shift last year. What worked to get people in the door was no longer yielding results. Dave isn’t here to be the number one auto shop in Arizona. He’s here to redefine the auto repai...

Things done changed said the Notorious BIG. What worked three years ago no longer does. Hell, what worked last year no longer works. Why? Prices are high. Uncertainty. Erosion of Trust. McDonald's has long been the Standard Bearer in fast food. But they've been slipping. Marketing efforts for their under $3 menu, K-Pop, and World Cup promotions fell short of expectations. Meanwhile, Burger King in...

When Dave Riccio’s body failed him overnight, he embarked on a journey of change. He asked himself, "Who am I now?" Dave went from being an employee to owning a business. He runs that business by breaking a few industry rules. Starting with heart-centered service. During his journey, he realized that calculated safety was an illusion anyway. That realization gave him the courage to stop appeasing...

Fitting in leads to misery. 70 percent admit to fitting in out of fear. Leaders too. Only 2 percent would provide honest feedback in a low-stakes situation. One business owner shied away from a new offer because of criticism. That's the fear of standing apart. "I'll never do business with you again." I heard that a lot on the radio. "I'll never listen to you again." Every time I heard that, my rat...

Half think Dr. Anthony Fauci is a hero. Half are outraged that he pled the Fifth over 100 times in front of Congress. I'm neither. Because beneath the worship and anger is his true legacy. One I learned covering the pandemic every day on the radio. You are your own authority. You create your own reality. Fauci is not in my bubble. He doesn't make decisions for me. Nor does any president. This is a...

I paid $82 for a steak at one of America's most famous steakhouses. It tasted like a 6 out of 10. That disappointment led to a bigger question and a bigger message. Smith & Wollensky boldly calls itself America's Steakhouse. They have the setting to back it up. White tablecloths. Big windows overlooking the Chicago River. Servers who walk you through the ranch sourcing, the in-house cuts, the...

What happens when the biggest leap of faith in your life turns out to be the easiest part? On the debut episode of Storytime , Rob Hunter sits down with longtime friend, colleague, and founder of A Taste of AZ , Eric Walters. While moving 2,000 miles from Ohio to Arizona, quitting a stable job, and giving up drinking seemed like effortless choices for Eric, his true challenge lay in breaking free...

Russell & Hunter was the top-rated show in Phoenix. Then it disappeared. Here's why. I'm Rob Hunter. For 4 years, my big brother Mike Russell and I rocked the mic on 550 KFYI. This was my calling. My dream. And I was making great money. Until I walked away. This is why. It's a story that comes in many parts. Thinking about my future. How I can make a bigger, more positive impact. Philosophical...

Today, we're doing something a little crazy, a little outrageous, and completely off the wall: we’re telling the absolute truth. Fresh off an intense, eye-opening retreat in the red rocks of Sedona, Rob is stripping away the polished broadcaster persona to deliver a hard truth to leaders, entrepreneurs, and standard-bearers everywhere: “I am a liar.” Truth be told, we all are. But if you want to b...

Boredom has crept across the land. Millions are uninspired by the current conditions. Technology, politics, wealth disparity. Clearly, we are divided. This is your opportunity to become a standard bearer. A standard bearer isn't satisfied with being number one or the best in their industry. Standard bearers are here to change their industries for the better. Or lead their company to new heights. H...

One word had an outsized influence on my life story. That word is depression. Diagnosed at 19, I carried that word around like a guilty verdict for 20 years. A word that became the central theme in the story I was living. My story’s theme became a sentence. Depression became my label and my excuse. “I can’t help it,” I’d say after making a poor decision. And I believed it. Because four people told...

You’ve been sold a story. By the government. By the media. By AI companies promising to save the world. By wellness gurus warning you that the train is leaving and you'd better get on. Most of the time, you don’t even know it’s happening. It’s part of our culture. That’s the power of language. It doesn’t announce itself. It seeps in. You breathe it, you absorb it, and before long, you’re living so...

There is an economy bigger than oil. Bigger than tech. Bigger than anything Wall Street tracks. It is built on your emotions. In this episode, I pull back the curtain on what I call the Division Economy. The invisible system that media companies, social platforms, advertisers, and marketers have spent decades engineering around one simple truth: fear and outrage keep you clicking. And if you are n...

You've been told to command the room your whole career. That advice is costing you promotions, deals, and the impact you've worked hard to earn. In this episode, Rob Hunter, 27-year broadcaster, #1 rated radio host, and Master of Communication, breaks down the fundamental difference between commanding a room and changing one. You'll hear the real stories of Susy, who got promoted after stopping tr...

Most men don't have a place where they can just talk. Not perform. Not network. Not scroll. Just talk. The barbershop used to be that place. For a lot of us, it still is. Clipper Kev, owner of PHX Fades Barbershop, has been behind the chair for ten years. Ten thousand hours. Thirty-eight days in a row without a day off. Okay, more like 90. In that chair, he's mentored kids who've never had a consi...

Why is everyone so angry? Because your outrage is a trillion-dollar commodity. After 25 years behind the mic, talk show host Rob Hunter is pulling back the curtain on the "Division Economy." Voltaire said, "history does not repeat itself. Man does." Here's the pattern of man. Every four generations or so, trust erodes. Let's go back to the Great Depression (1929) through the devestation of Hurrica...

Stop Pitching. Start Telling Stories. The internet called it "the worst speech ever." When New York Yankees star Aaron Judge gave an impromptu pep talk to Team USA, social media trolls were quick to compare him to Hollywood scripts and rehearsed movie monologues. But they missed the point entirely. In this episode of Equal Matters , veteran broadcaster Rob Hunter (27-year radio host and communicat...

Great quarterbacks move on quickly after interceptions and that fascinates me. I studied and applied those lessons to my communication, especially in those big moments. Big moments when I had to lead, advocate for myself, and make a pitch. This is a preview of an episode on my Substack about how learning those lessons improved my outcomes. These skills will improve yours as well, helping you creat...

Every meeting is like a poker table. Whether you are pitching your idea or client. Every negotiation for a raise is a game. Every room is an opportunity, unless you stay on the sidelines. The movie Rounders teaches us that poker requires skills to win, so does life. Two characters offer two different approaches. Which one are you? Joey Knish? The grinder who plays it safe for 15 years, pays his bi...