A book about the people who look fine
Game Face
Down
What happens when you stop performing.
Jolie Shapiro
Revenue leaders took the game face off on the record. The room they were most afraid of was the one inside their own head. This is what they said.
Paperback & Kindle. Ships today. · Thirty-three leaders on the record
The book
I thought I was the only one. It's the sentence people say the moment they stop performing. The top rep who dreads the number. The founder who can't feel the win. The leader everyone calls resilient, running on empty behind the badge.
Game Face Down is thirty-three of those rooms, drawn from on-the-record conversations with the revenue leaders you already follow. Not advice. Not a framework. The unedited human underneath the highlight reel, and the proof that the thing you hide is the thing everyone's hiding.
You made it to the end of the game face. This is what's on the other side of it.
Read this if you have ever:
- Turned the camera off between meetings to fix your face
- Gone back to work early because work was somewhere to put your hands
- Watched a number decide how you felt about yourself that week
- Carried something at home that nobody at work knew about
- Wondered whether everyone else is actually fine, or just better at the face
Why these conversations are different
“I've done probably a thousand-plus podcasts easily. I've never been asked that question.”
They said the quiet part out loud.
Revenue leaders sat down for the Revenue Mind podcast across 40+ episodes. The book is what they said once the game face came off.
“You invited me, I'm going to accept and share some things I've probably never shared on a podcast before.”
“That's a really good question that no one has ever asked me before.”
“Thank you for a different kind of sales conversation. I respect it a lot.”
The voices in this book came from here
Hear the full conversations, free.
Every chapter started on the Revenue Mind podcast. Match a chapter to the unabridged interview it came from, or read the full transcripts.
The chapters · 14
- The TunnelLashay Lewis
- Broken on SundayAnthony Kennada
- The Identity TaxClaude Silver
- The Review Your Depression Would WriteDilara Cossette
- Twenty SecondsMark Huber
- Boundaries or ElseTim Davidson
- The Quota CarrierBrandon Fluharty
- Don't Judge the Moment Too SoonChris Walker
- The Shield That Was PerfectEvan Hughes
- The Slip Is the WarningAnthony Morell
- The Fairy-Tale ForecastBolaji Oyejide
- When Everything Hits at OnceJamal Hamilton
- The Word That Was Never TrueLeslie Venetz
- The Ikea CouchRob LoCascio
New here?
Start with the book
You found this because someone you trust put it in front of you. Start where they did. Thirty-three rooms, an afternoon, and the sentence you thought was only yours.
Finished it?
Take it further
One play a week. The full conversations on the podcast. And the resources, if a heavier chapter hit close to home.
After you read
If the book did its job
Leave a review
Amazon shows the book to the next person only if readers vouch for it. Three sentences on what landed, or what you'd argue with, puts it in front of someone who needs it.
Leave a reviewTake it into a room
The discussion guide
Three questions per chapter, none about performance. For a book club, a leadership offsite, a recovery meeting, or a walk by yourself. Start somewhere easy.
One play a week
A thousand plays. One per room.
Every Monday, one play lands in your inbox. Five steps, the exact opening line, the question to ask. Short enough to read in the hallway, then use in the room.
It never goes to an employer. That isn't a policy, it's the whole point.
If the heavier chapters hit close to home
It took me fifteen years to learn that asking is the play.
You don't have to finish the chapter alone. Real people, right now.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
24/7
Crisis Text Line
24/7
SAMHSA National Helpline
24/7
The Trevor Project
1-866-488-7386, text START to 678-678
24/7, LGBTQ+ youth
Alcoholics Anonymous
National Alliance for Eating Disorders
Mon-Fri 9am-7pm ET