HarperCollins Publishers

Author

RSE Ventures

CEO and Co-Founder

Harvard Business School

Executive Fellow

Bluestone Lane

Board Member

&pizza

Momofuku Milk Bar

VaynerMedia

Business Partner

Relevent Sports

Co-Founder

Autism Speaks

SkOUT Secure Intelligence

Co-Owner

Book a 15 minute one-on-one session with me on Intro! Love this app. Click here for more: intro.co/matthiggins

Founder. Operator. Investor. Educator. No matter the role, I’ve always believed in trusting your instincts and never outsourcing your judgment.
 
That mindset has led me down an unconventional path from poverty to investor. I grew up in Queens, hawking flowers on street corners and working at McDonald’s to help put food on the table. On a mission to transcend poverty as fast as possible, I dropped out of high school at 16 to work full-time and enroll in college early.
 
Over the next decade, I earned a law degree from Fordham at night and began a career as the youngest press secretary in NYC history, where I helped manage the global press response to 9/11.
 
I went on to be an executive for two NFL teams, found/invest in some of the most dynamic brands through RSE Ventures, and become a guest shark on ABC’s Shark Tank (seasons 10-11) as well as an executive fellow at Harvard Business School, where I co-teach "Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer." 
 
Always looking to meet great founders and the people who invest in them.

Follow me on Twitter @MHiggins.

In business (and in life), you don’t need to pretend you have all the answers. 

But you do need to demonstrate you have the capacity to find them and to pivot when the moment comes.

So how do you identify that propensity to iterate? You probe for signals of self-awareness. Big picture, it takes self-awareness and intellectual curiosity to recognize when you’re heading in the wrong direction, humility to admit it, and confidence to change course.
 
Listen to Mr. McConaughey on this one: 
 
Always keep an unrelenting bias toward action and just make the next best decision with all the available information.

Matt Higgins

Jeff Bezos offers a simple yet profound formula that I've personally embraced throughout my adult life. 

It involves projecting yourself into the future, picturing your 80-year-old self, and contemplating what regrets might haunt you at that age. 

What will the 80-year-old you lament to have done – or importantly, not done?

You should always see the world through the prism of your future self - let it enable you to isolate what matters most to you now, and then make the decision to live your life accordingly.

Remember: We tend to regret missed opportunities and the risks we were too fearful to take far more than any missteps we might encounter on our journey.

(📹: Summit)

CEO and Cofounder at RSE Ventures | WSJ Bestselling Author: Burn the Boats, Harper Collins, 2023 | Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School

We put too much pressure on ourselves to know the ultimate destination – when what we really should do is focus on making the next best decision that moves us in the general direction of our ambition.

“What’s my dream job?” is the wrong question. A better question: “What direction do I want to move in?”

Don’t just choose a line of business to go into. First figure out who you are, and then let that take you in the general direction you want to go.

The move in the direction of your North Star. Your future self will thank you.

Stop self-censuring your ambition because you fear they'll say you're full of yourself. Ridicule you for becoming something you’re not - yet. 

Nobody's thinking that much about what you’re up to.

Or they live a small life.  

The one you left behind. 🔥 ⛵ 

B players hire C players so they look talented in comparison – causing the A players to pick up the slack, simmering with resentment until they boil over and flee. 

Which leaves the company with B players letting C players run it into the ground.
 
Talented people will accept nothing less than meritocracy. 

“I’m not a risk-taker.”

Don't condemn yourself to a life of playing it safe by convincing yourself you can't take risks. We are all risk-wanters because we know that just on the other side of risk lies reward. 

Reframe your relationship with risk by probing what’s the worst thing that could happen BEFORE you go all in on Plan A.

My 4-Step Risk Matrix (featured in Burn the Boats - link in comments) will change the trajectory of your life and set you free to 🔥⛵️. 

PDW Co-founder Matt Higgins joined CNBC's 'The Exchange' to talk about why it's critical to invest in America's defense tech startups and how his personal involvement in PDW has led to the development of "the single most versatile drone in the world." 

Matt says his work at PDW is inspired by his public service at Ground Zero, where, in the wake of the worst terrorist attack in US history, he oversaw the rebuilding of the World Trade Center as COO of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

#UAS #dronetechnology #drones #PDW #RSE #EW #USA #C100

I recently finished Matt Higgins' book, Burn the Boats, and all I can say is WOW!

This book was a rare literal reflection of the saying, "I can't put the book down". I found myself reading it while bottle feeding my son, in the morning before my family woke up, winding down at night, and any time I could squeeze a page in.

Whether you're looking for encouragement to kick your business idea into first gear or sitting comfortably in a large corporation simply interested in hearing about different perspectives of what motivates founders, this book needs to jump to the front of your book list.

It's chock full of stories where less than ideal circumstances are pivoted into successful businesses through the concept of going all in. Matt conveys that you're sacrificing more in the long run by not following your passion than you would be by staying in your comfort zone today. What's more, there's no single way to do it.

There's very little chance I won't reread this one within the year.

#entrepreneurship #bookrecommendations #reading #business #startups 

There’s a new social media app called Airchat currently ranked #17 but I suspect will be #1 soon enough.

Hard to explain but it’s like a friendly Twitter that uses voice but transcribes everything you say instantly. 

I’m sharing for a very specific business reason.

To illustrate the art of the possible. 

Utilizing AI, the quality of the transcripts are unfamathomable. Simply talk at your normal rate of speech and it’s 99% accurate and instantaneous.

If a startup can pull this off, imagine what Apple is about to rollout in June at their developer conference? 

I don’t think we are going to be typing (or pecking) anymore. 

Huge ramp up in productivity thanks to AI.

I assume the Airchat team will find business uses or license the tech.

It’s pure magic. 

Try it.

Ever been scammed?

It robs more than your net worth.

Your self-worth takes an even bigger hit.

You feel so low, so gullible. Trust me, I know.

Well today we hack back.

Introducing Lockchain.ai - the AI-powered risk management platform for the blockchain.

Crypto doesn't have to be the wild west. And it won't scale without proper safeguards.

We're going to put eyes on the blockchain 24 hours a day to sound the alarm before it's too late. To push back against the nefarious characters who can make this a rough neighborhood.

My cofounders Andrew Howard, Aidan Kehoe and I have been working on Lockchain in stealth mode since 2022.  I'm so excited to share it with you.

lockchain.ai • 1 min read

Lockchain

BIG AMBITIONS REQUIRE BOLD MOVES. 

"Burn The Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential” is a memoir by Matt Higgins that chronicles his journey from poverty to becoming a successful entrepreneur and investor. The book is written for entrepreneurs looking for the inspiration to commit to starting their own business. I am not that person; however, it did help me to think big about my next career move, and it has great advice if you are mentoring someone thinking about making their ambitions a reality. 

For example:

➡ The title draws the metaphor of a military general who forces his troops to destroy their boats upon reaching enemy shores to remain committed to moving forward by eliminating the retreat option. The idea of an alternative plan can diminish the likelihood of success for your primary goal. So, if you’re looking for a job, and want that next-level role, stop thinking of and marketing yourself for the old role. BE the person in the new one. Your identity must mirror what you want to achieve, so you must become a person who embodies that role, projects it, and owns it. (See James Clear’s Atomic Habits for finding ways to “become” this person.) 

➡ Your intuition is your ally. A friend of mine was considering leaving a current role for a similar one at a different company for less pay. Family told her to stay because good salaries are hard to find. The issue wasn’t her pay; it was that her boss couldn’t support her, and she recognized that the business didn’t need someone in her role, but an entirely different resource to achieve what they wanted to do. Neither issue would help her develop in her career. Our gut guides us in the right direction even when everything else seems uncertain, and each time we listen to it, that gut muscle gets stronger.

➡ Hello, anxiety, my old friend. When harnessed correctly, a healthy dose of anxiety can push us to perform at our best. This can be tricky to get right. Higgins says that we should learn to optimize anxiety rather than avoid it. Optimizing means finding the right goal and then having enough anxiety “to keep us hungry, motivated, and effective. . . you are uncomfortable because it’s worth it.” See point #1 - as you level up, you will experience anxiety, but it will be worth it because you will become the person you want to be. 

Four Principles that, if given consistent attention, can make sticking with Plan A much easier: Fully COMMIT to your objective, leaving no room for retreat. Be RESOURCEFUL and find creative solutions to overcome obstacles. Build RESILIENCE by learning from setbacks and moving forward. Lastly, CALCULATED RISKS are essential for growth and success. Use common sense to mitigate risk, but commit to your goal.

It comes down to this: “You must ask for what you want. The faster you secure new accomplishments, the more time you have . .. to reap the fruits of exponential growth.”

#jobsearch
#motivation
#entrepreneurship
#selfimprovement

There it is Matt. 🙌

Here is the link to Matt Higgins book 
Burn the Boats.

Yes, it was that good. 😉
https://lnkd.in/eeAAcRYy

#business #education #linkedin #publishing
#inspirationalleader

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