The Origin story

Where the Fire Started

It was 1995, and I was the maintenance manager at Pepsi Bottling in Mesquite, Texas, running a capital project that sent me to Louisville to inspect a stretch-wrap machine — to see it, touch it, and confirm it was the one.

I made it to the machine. Saw it, touched it, confirmed it — the trip did exactly what it was sent to do. But the thing that actually changed my life on that trip had nothing to do with a stretch-wrap machine. It happened on the plane.

I was traveling with a contractor who'd become a friend over the course of the project — comfortable enough by then to talk about more than the work. Somewhere over the middle of the country he asked, "Have you ever heard of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?"

I hadn't. So he handed me his copy.

I devoured it. It was the first full book I'd read cover to cover since college — which, if the studies are right, puts me in a lot of company. And somewhere in there I started wondering why he'd handed it to me in the first place — what's he trying to say about me? I had to laugh at myself and let that go. That's when the fire officially caught.

I went on to get certified in three of Covey's programs — The 7 Habits, Principle-Centered Leadership, and First Things First. I was already facilitating professional development at Pepsi University in those years; I just never got to these before I left in 2000. But that was never the point. I had become a student — not of a curriculum, but of people, and of who we're capable of becoming.

I always figured I'd be a coach someday. I never imagined it would be in the professional sense, in the business world. But that book, and the ones that followed, lit a self-development fire in me that turned into a calling. To this day, when people ask why I do the work I do, the honest answer starts on that plane.

That fire is Lead Strong. Everything else — the frameworks, the coaching, the Leadership OS — is just what the fire built.

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Reggie Carney doesn't coach from theory. He coaches from the seat you're sitting in.

Reggie Carney started as a degreed electrical engineer: trained to trust systems, logic, and being the smartest person in the room. Sixteen years in corporate leadership taught him the one thing his engineering couldn't: the technical skill that makes a leader successful is never what makes them effective with people. He has since spent 22 years coaching founders and executives.

His book, Yes You Can!, tells that story. The Leadership OS he unpacks today is built on the same framework. When Reggie speaks, he's not delivering inspiration. He's delivering a system your team can run starting Monday morning.

38 years of leadership work across four continents and six countries
Founder of Lead Strong Inc. — est. 2004
Author of Yes You Can!
Forthcoming book, The Leadership OS
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses alum
Delivered coaching and leadership development for teams at Texas Christian University, a Class I railroad, Deloitte, and National Life Group

Books

Yes You Can! — My ROUTE to Freedom On Stage

Available now, Yes You Can! — My ROUTE to Freedom On Stage tells the story of how Reggie overcame a terrifying fear of public speaking, and introduces the ROUTE framework that grew out of that journey. This book lays out the ROUTE principles, a throughline that also runs through the Leadership OS.

$54 $150

Delivered digitally to your email after purchase.

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COMING SOON

Leadership OS — Coming Soon

A forthcoming book that expands on the Leadership OS, offering practical insights and tools for leaders looking to apply ROUTE more broadly. More details will be announced when available.

What got you here won't scale you. Lead your next great run.

Guides on the side, not sages on the stage. We bring the process; you bring the wisdom.

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Reggie Carney — Founder & CEO
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Toll free (866) 840-5766

Text (469) 693-1552