Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential

The secret to achieving success is throwing out backup plans, contends Higgins, cofounder of the RSE Ventures investment firm, in his bombastic debut. He tells stories about friends and his own life intended to demonstrate his maxim, “You don’t win when you give yourself the option to lose,” such as when he quit his job at the New York City mayor’s office after getting passed over for a promotion, a risk that paid off when he was offered the spot four months later. However, Higgins often strays from his core argument, as when he emphasizes the importance of being open to feedback by recounting how his friend Mike Tannenbaum, then the general manager of the New York Jets, took to heart Higgins’s warning to develop coping mechanisms to temper the rage that had been compromising Tannenbaum’s professional performance. He concludes that readers should “trust your instincts,” but this isn’t easily reconciled with his recommendation to rely on data (preferably academic articles) to “inform your decisions and overcome your worry.” Also, the takeaways generally boil down to such platitudes as “take the leap” and “manifest your boldest dreams,” providing little that readers haven’t heard before. The fist-pumping attitude doesn’t compensate for lackluster guidance. (Feb.)