Playing The Inner Game

My guests are Entrepreneurs, Executives, Olympians, Artists, and Creatives. Some famous names and some hidden gems. We discuss what success means to each one of them and decode the best parts of their mindset. It is a search for the common threads, principles, and patterns that we can apply to our own lives to become healthier, wealthier, happier, and wiser.

Playing The Inner Game is a business podcast hosted by Michael Campion, with 64 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Michael Campion hosts Playing The Inner Game, a business show with 64 episodes published.

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  Episode #61

  #61 Michael Campion - How Great Public Speakers Make People Actually Listen

  Jul 22, 202629 min

  Most people don't have a short attention span. They have a low threshold for boredom. Netflix asks "are you still watching?" and you always say yes when the story's good. The same thing happens in a boardroom, on a stage, in a pitch meeting. People don't tune out because they can't focus. They tune out because you gave them a reason to. So what makes some speakers impossible to look away from, while others lose the room in the first thirty seconds? It's not charisma. It's not luck. It's a handful of specific, learnable habits: how fast you get to the point, how often you deliver something worth hearing, and whether you're brave enough to say something only you could say. In this episode, I break down exactly how I coach CEOs, TEDx speakers, and total beginners to hold a room's attention from the first second to the last. You'll learn why you have one tenth of a second to make a first impression, why "rate of revelation" matters more than most people realize, and why stories beat spreadsheets every single time. I also share the exact opening formula I use before every talk, the reason AI generated content falls flat no matter how polished it looks, and a personal story about my son that shows why none of this works without honesty. If you've ever watched someone speak and thought "why can't I do that," this episode is the answer. Apply to work with me: https://www.michaelxcampion.com/ Connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelxcampion/ (00:00) Why Public Speaking Fear Is Universal (01:20) It's Not About You: Serve the Idea, Not the Ego (02:36) Nervous or Excited? The Story You Tell Yourself (03:22) Practice Is the Enemy of Doubt (04:39) Record Yourself: The Fastest Way to Improve (05:52) Is Persuasion Manipulation? (08:33) The H.I.U. Formula for Opening Any Talk (09:49) First Impressions and the Rate of Revelation (12:33) Attention Span Myth: Why Stories Beat Spreadsheets (15:26) Why AI Can't Replace Your Voice (17:58) The SHUSH Storytelling Formula (22:21) Structure, Frameworks, and Why Talent Is Practice in Disguise

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  Episode #60

  #60 Marie Claire Lim Moore - At Work, You're Replaceable. At Home, You're Not.

  Jun 30, 202647 min

  Marie Claire Lim Moore has built one of the most remarkable careers in corporate Asia. CEO of TransUnion Asia Pacific. Author of two books. TEDx speaker. Mother of three. A Filipina immigrant who climbed to the top of one of the world's leading data and analytics companies without ever pretending to be someone she wasn't. But this conversation isn't about the résumé. It's about what the résumé costs. And what it's worth. Ten years ago, Claire stood on a TEDx stage and asked a question that stopped rooms: how can we have so many tiger moms and so few tiger women? Asian women dominate classrooms, top university rankings, and outperform in early careers. Then, somewhere between ambition and expectation, they disappear from the leadership table. A decade later, the numbers are moving. But the inner game, the guilt, the fear, the daily negotiation between who you are at work and who you are at home, that part hasn't changed. Claire is one of the most honest voices on what it actually looks like to lead 500 people across Asia Pacific, raise three teenagers, stay married for 17 years, and still feel afraid of disappointing the people you love most. Not the polished version. The real one. We talk about the moment her parents' disappointment, over a forgotten bar of soap, inspired a bestselling book and reminded her never to forget where she came from. We talk about the mentor who told her: at work, you're replaceable, at home, you're not and how that one line became a decision-making framework. We talk about why perfectionism is just fear in disguise, why work-life balance is useless as a philosophy but powerful as a daily practice, and why the question isn't whether you can have it all, it's whether you're asking the right question in the first place. And at the end, she answers the one question no host has ever asked her. The answer will stay with you. Apply to work with me: https://www.michaelxcampion.com/ Connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelxcampion/ Guest - Marie Claire Lim Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marieclairelimmoore/ Marie Claire Lim Moore is the CEO of TransUnion Asia Pacific, leading a team of approximately 500 people across the region. She is the author of two books, Don't Forget the Soap and Other Reminders from My Fabulous Filipina Mother and Don't Forget the Parsley and a TEDx speaker whose talk on Asian women in leadership has continued to spark conversation a decade after its release. A Filipina immigrant raised in New York, Claire has built her career across financial services and data analytics, holding senior roles at American Express, Citi, and Visa before joining TransUnion. She is based in Hong Kong with her husband and three children. (00:00) The Question No One Ever Asked Her (00:47) Ten Years Since the TEDx Talk (03:46) Having It All -- And Why That's the Wrong Question (07:18) The COVID Dividend for Working Parents (10:15) The Hidden Cost of a Global Career in Asia (13:08) How She Actually Wrote Two Books (17:22) The Soap Story That Inspired Everything (19:22) Leading Without Losing Yourself (25:59) Work-Life Balance Is a Theory -- Here's the Practice (33:15) At Work You're Replaceable. At Home You're Not. (43:37) Don't Forget the Parsley -- Making the Best of Everything

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  Episode #59

  #59 Jean Sung - The World needs more Do-Tanks not Think-Tanks

  Jun 22, 20261h 1m

  Jean Sung has spent over 20 years inside the rooms where Asia's wealthiest families decide what to do with their money. Head of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation across 13 countries. Founder of J.P. Morgan Private Bank's Philanthropy Centre in Asia. Two decades of sitting across from ultra-high-net-worth individuals, multi-generational family offices, and some of the most powerful philanthropists on the planet. And after all of it, her conclusion is uncomfortable. Most of what we call charity isn't working. Not because people don't care. But because the entire system was built on the wrong foundation. Donations that feel good. Band-aid solutions that never touch the root of the problem. Nonprofits running on passion with no performance metrics, no accountability, and no path to scale. Wealthy donors writing the same check to the same 20 organizations year after year and calling it impact. What she's calling for is a complete restructuring of how philanthropy is practiced in Asia and beyond. Stop treating giving like charity. Start treating it like investment. Same rigor. Same accountability. Same demand for return. Because if you don't do well, you cannot do good. The conversation goes deep on the gap between intention and action, why Asian philanthropic giving is vastly underestimated and almost entirely invisible, how the now generation of wealthy families is finally starting to deploy capital the right way, and why the world needs fewer think tanks and a lot more do tanks. This is one of the most honest, challenging, and clear-eyed conversations I have had on this show. I hope it changes how you think about giving. Apply to work with me: https://www.michaelxcampion.com/ Connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelxcampion/ Guest — Jean Sung: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-k-sung-312b3338/ Jean Sung is the Executive Director and Head of The Philanthropy Centre, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, Asia Pacific. She founded the Philanthropy Centre for J.P. Morgan's private banking arm after spending eight years managing the JPMorgan Chase Foundation's corporate giving across 13 Asian countries. With two decades of experience advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals, multi-generational family offices, and global philanthropists, Jean is one of the most experienced and respected voices in strategic philanthropy in Asia. She serves on the boards of the Bai Xian Asia Institute, LinkREIT's Sustainability Committee, the McCain Global Leaders Advisory Council, and the UWCSEA Foundation, among others. (00:00:00) The "Now Gen" and Why Jean Hates the Term Next Gen (00:01:25) 20 Years, 13 Countries: Jean's Journey at JPMorgan (00:03:45) Why People Give and Why That Needs to Change (00:06:36) Band-Aid Solutions and the Mattress Story (00:09:34) What Communities Actually Need vs. What Donors Think They Need (00:14:57) How Jean Got the Job Running the JPMorgan Chase Foundation (00:16:41) Rethinking Grants: From Finite Donations to Sustainable Investment (00:24:38) What Do You Want Your Dash to Mean (00:27:33) Why Your Foundation and Your Investment Portfolio Should Talk to Each Other (00:38:11) Hands Up Not Handouts: The Danger of Dependency (00:47:56) How Asian Families Think About Wealth, Succession, and Giving (00:54:57) Think Tanks vs Do Tanks: The Gap Between Intention and Action

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  Episode #58

  #58 Michael Campion - How Great Leaders Communicate Their Way to the Top

  May 26, 20261 hourS0

  <p>I grew up shy, introverted, and terrified of public speaking.<br/><br/>A bookworm in Hong Kong. A wallflower who couldn’t hold a room. A kid who went into investment banking because that’s where smart people were supposed to go, not because it was right for me.<br/><br/>So I walked away.<br/><br/>Professional football. BBC radio. The Premier League. A microphone. A stage.<br/><br/>And somewhere along the way, the worst public speaker in the room became one of the most sought-after communication coaches in the world.<br/><br/>But here’s what I’ll t...

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  Episode #57

  #57 Philipp Knuepfer - Why Experience is the New Luxury

  May 18, 202652 minS0

  <p>Philipp Knuepfer spent 21 years mastering luxury hospitality at one of the world's most iconic hotel groups.<br/><br/>General Manager in Boston. Area Vice President across Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. A career built on white-glove service, five-star standards, and the kind of brand loyalty that takes decades to earn.<br/><br/>Then he walked away from all of it.<br/><br/>Not because it wasn't working. But because he could see where hospitality was going  and it wasn't where most hotel groups were headed.<br/><br/>The traveler has changed. The expectations have changed. And the old f...

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