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Matt Higgins

Goodreads Author

Born

in Queens, New York, The United States

Website

https://www.burntheboatsbook.com/

Twitter

mhiggins

Genre

Business, Self Help, Nonfiction

Member Since

December 2022

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Founder. Operator. Investor. Educator. Shark. No matter the role, Matt Higgins has always believed in trusting his instincts and never outsourcing his judgment. Higgins grew up in Queens, hawking flowers on street corners and scraping gum under tables at McDonald’s to help feed his family. On a mission to escape poverty as fast as possible and provide for his home-bound mother, he dropped out of high school, took his GED and enrolled in college at 16 – eventually earning his juris doctorate from Fordham Law at night while working full-time.

A decade after dropping out of high school, Higgins was appointed the youngest Mayor’s press secretary in NYC history at 26, managing the global media response during the September 11, 2001 terrorist atta Founder. Operator. Investor. Educator. Shark. No matter the role, Matt Higgins has always believed in trusting his instincts and never outsourcing his judgment. Higgins grew up in Queens, hawking flowers on street corners and scraping gum under tables at McDonald’s to help feed his family. On a mission to escape poverty as fast as possible and provide for his home-bound mother, he dropped out of high school, took his GED and enrolled in college at 16 – eventually earning his juris doctorate from Fordham Law at night while working full-time.

A decade after dropping out of high school, Higgins was appointed the youngest Mayor’s press secretary in NYC history at 26, managing the global media response during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He then became one of the first employees – and ultimately Chief Operating Officer – of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the federally funded government agency created to rebuild the World Trade Center site. Higgins helped organize the largest international design competition in history culminating in Reflecting Absence, the September 11th National Memorial, and the development of the 1,776-feet-tall One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the northern hemisphere.

Higgins has deep experience in sports, having spent 15 years in senior leadership positions with National Football League teams. He made his mark with two NFL franchises, overseeing the revenue functions of the New York Jets as Executive Vice President of Business Operations, and after leaving the Jets, serving as Vice Chairman of the Miami Dolphins from 2012 - 2021. Higgins cofounded New York City-based RSE Ventures in 2012 alongside developer Stephen M. Ross, amassing a multi-billion-dollar investment portfolio of leading brands across sports and entertainment, media and marketing, food and lifestyle, and technology industries. NYC’s iconic Magnolia Bakery is one of the latest additions to a portfolio that includes David Chang’s renowned culinary brand, Momofuku, and Australian-inspired hospitality/lifestyle brand, Bluestone Lane.

RSE has successfully backed many challenger brands from inception, including RESY, an Open Table competitor that American Express acquired in 2019; the Drone Racing League, which was named among Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Sports Companies; and Relevent Sports, the leading international soccer agency in the US. Higgins was the first client and ultimately only partner in VaynerMedia, the largest social-media first agency in the world founded by Gary Vaynerchuk. VaynerMedia was recently named

Adweek’s 2022 Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year and ranked #5 on Ad Age’s 2022 Agency A-List.

Higgins is a prolific investor in the direct-to-consumer space, having invested in over 100 DTC brands throughout his career. He leveraged this expertise to become a lecturer and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School, where he teaches the popular course Moving Beyond DTC alongside HBS Professor Len Schlesinger. Each year, the course features real-world case studies on some of the top consumer brands in the US. Higgins’ first book Burn The Boats will be published by Harper Collins William Morrow in 2023. The book offers a blueprint for a life where ‘Plan B’ is never an option – instead, advocating to always move forward with visionary defiance, bold self-confidence, unwavering commitment, and rigorous honesty.

Higgins’ reputation as a self-made serial entrepreneur earned him a spot as a recurring guest Shark on the Emmy award-winning TV show Shark Tank during seasons 10 and 11. In 2019, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, joining the ranks of seven former US presidents, Nobel Prize winners and other leaders for work to improve society. He is also a longstanding board member of Autism Speaks, advocating for scientific research and greater acceptance of neurodiversity. In 2021, Higgins had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss human ri ...more

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Matt Higgins’s books

Average rating: 4.01 · 1,029 ratings · 171 reviews · 10 distinct works • Similar authors

	Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 999 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Passion Struck: Twelve Powerful Principles to Unlock Your Purpose and Ignite Your Most Intentional Life by John R. Miles (Goodreads Author), Matt Higgins (Goodreads Author) (foreword) 4.53 avg rating — 163 ratings — published 2024 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Driven to Ride: The True Story of an Elite Athlete Who Rebuilt His Leg, His Life, and His Career by Mike Schultz, Matt Higgins (Goodreads Author), David Wise (Foreword) 4.54 avg rating — 26 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Quemar las naves 4.63 avg rating — 8 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Burn The Boats 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Quemar las naves: Por qué no tener un plan B puede resultar beneficioso by Matt Higgins (Goodreads Author), María Celina Rojas (translator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Liderazgo: Adopta Habilidades Efectivas Como Influenciar, Comunicar Y Tomar Decisiones 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vergesst Plan B!: Warum man alle Brücken hinter sich abbrechen sollte, um das volle Potenzial seines Unternehmens zu entfesseln 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bird Dream Lib/E: Adventures at the Extremes of Human Flight by Matt Higgins (Goodreads Author), Adam Verner (Goodreads Author) (Reader) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential; Library Edition 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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It's amazing to see how many of you have added Burn the Boats to your reading list for 2023! As a thank you, I'm hosting a live webinar with Gary Vaynerchuk to those who pre-ordered my book. Limited spots remain, but I'd love to see you all there.

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Published on February 02, 2023 07:31

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Quotes by Matt Higgins (?)

“No visions are ever rendered to us in the dead of night that we are incapable of pursuing at the break of dawn.”
― Matt Higgins, Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential

tags: business, entreneurship, leadership

2 likes

“So often, data is merely insurance against self-delusion. It won’t (and it shouldn’t) provide the green light. In fact, research too often ends up serving as a reason people give up before they start. Don’t let numbers hold you back when you know in your gut that you’re onto something, and don’t be afraid to go digging for the support you know in your heart must be out there somewhere.”
― Matt Higgins, Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential

tags: business, career, entrepreneurship, leadership

1 likes

“Breakout success means training your mind to pursue opportunity before the tipping point of evidence, in the interstitial space between intuition and data.”
― Matt Higgins, Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential

tags: business-quotes, career, entrepreneurship, leadership

1 likes

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Matt’s Quotes

tags: business-quotes, career, entrepreneurship, leadership

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“The key to unlocking potential is to embrace your highest competitive advantage: you are the only one who has the full story of your life. YOU are the one subject about which there will never be a greater expert in the world.”
― Matt Higgins, Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential

tags: business, entrepreneurship, leadership

1 likes

tags: business, entreneurship, leadership

2 likes

“The best leaders make decisions that masquerade as data-driven choices when they are actually what I call gut sandwiches: data sandwiched between insights and intuition that we can’t justify with numbers alone.”
― Matt Higgins

tags: business, career, entrepreneurship, leadership

0 likes