Massachusetts - June 2, 2026 - Rich Higgins, has published a nonfiction memoir titled Teachers, Teams & Tugboats, documenting his 40-year career in Global Logistics. He spent four decades in the demanding world of global logistics, helping teams through trucking deregulation, bankruptcies, multi-billion-dollar mergers, and international sourcing expansions in Asia; primarily working with apparel, footwear and toy retailers.
Teachers, Teams & Tugboats is about the mentors who shaped his journey, who provided guidance, protection, and course correction when he needed it most. The term "tugboats," is a metaphor used to identify those “most influential” contributors, who pushed, guided and steered the author through rough waters to safe harbors. The book recognizes and honors those and others who assisted him throughout his career. More than a career memoir, this is a guide to recognizing the people who make success possible, and a reminder to thank them before the opportunity passes.
Among the figures he profiles: a retail logistics director named Bob, who hired him into his first management role and personally taught him to use a company issued Apple computer when the technology was still new; Charlie, a former schoolteacher turned Chief Operating Officer, who told the author that a true leader’s job is to determine what motivates underperformers to succeed and improve rather than simply replacing them; and Greg, an SVP of HR who held a job open for two months while Higgins tried to make a cross country relocation work, then welcomed him back without conditions when it did not. He also writes about a colleague named Tom who drove an extra 50 miles each way, every day for 30 days, to get Higgins to work after a traffic violation cost him his license at age 31. Tom refused compensation of any kind.
Higgins entered the industry after college in the late 1970s, starting with a regional LTL carrier in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He went on to hold Director, V.P. and senior leadership positions with retailers; many over a billion dollars in sales, with extensive domestic and international supply chain networks. Most of these roles included overseeing supply chain networks with multiple domestic DCs, fulfillment centers and extensive international operations across China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
The memoir addresses personal subjects alongside the professional narrative. Higgins describes the difficulties relocating his family for a job and watching his family struggle with the move, a period he described as the "Planet Neptune Years." He writes about turning down an enviable senior level logistics position at a multibillion-dollar footwear retailer because his father was ill, a decision that allowed him to spend the last night of his father's life with him. He also recounts a period when trucking contract changes in New Jersey resulted in personal threats that led his company to assign him a full-time armed bodyguard for ten days.
The book includes chapters on executives Higgins calls "pirates," his term for leaders who are the antithesis of a “Tugboat”. In business, itis someone in power who can effortlessly destroy a culture, wreck the business, desecrate the dignity of workers, and intentionally ruin careers. He notes “you need to do everything in your power to avoid these people.”
On the industry side, Higgins details specific operational work, identifying cost savings and operational efficiencies eliminating millions in ocean freight, rail, small parcel, domestic and international consolidation and pool distribution with multiple retailers. He received the highest corporate award, The Chairman’s Award at a $2B retailer for these contributions.
Having a personal perspective with cancer, has completed the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon course 17 times as part of the Jimmy Fund Walk, paying it back by raising money for Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He is a former board member of CONECT (Coalition of New England Companies for Trade) and the Florida Trucking Association, and has spoken at industry conferences including RILA and the TMA (Trans Pacific Maritime Conference). He was featured in Supply Chain World magazine in 2014.
He lives in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, with his wife Becky and is completing his final logistics consulting project.
Book Information
Title: Teachers, Teams & Tugboats
Author: Rich Higgins
Genre: Nonfiction / Memoir
Media Contact
Company Name: Parker Publishers
Contact Person: Sia Stone
Email: Send Email
Phone: +1 (689) 304-8480
Country: United States
Website: https://parkerpublishers.com/
