About Chuck Wisner
Leadership advisor, coach, author — and lifelong student of conversations.
Chuck Wisner has spent more than twenty-five years helping leaders and teams around the world transform the way they communicate, not by teaching scripted phrases, but by reshaping how they think, listen, and respond to one another. As a trusted advisor to senior leaders and organizations including Google, Apple, Tesla, Rivian, and Harvard Business School, Chuck brings a practical yet profoundly human approach to the art of conversation.
Chuck began his professional life as an architect and partner at HKT Architects in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he witnessed firsthand how miscommunication, ego, and power struggles could derail even the best ideas.
His curiosity about these dynamics led him to study mediation at Harvard Law School, train in advanced coaching at the Newfield Institute, and work as an affiliate with MIT’s Center for Organizational Learning, founded by Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline.
Those experiences reshaped his understanding of leadership and communication, inspiring a decades-long journey to help others transform how they speak and lead. His Open Hand Communication method blends deep research, practical frameworks, and real-world insight to help leaders replace defensiveness with curiosity and control with awareness.
Chuck is the creator of the Open Hand Communication method and author of The Art of Conscious Conversations, a practical guide to making communication more intentional, impactful, and human. He lives in New England with his wife, Kata, an artist, and together they delight in watching their two sons pursue their own creative paths.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
— Victor Frankl
Testimonials
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“Chuck taught me so many lessons over the years, and the true test of his effectiveness is that I still hear his voice in that millisecond before reacting to something. Through my work with him, I came to realize that so much of our interaction with others is determined by stories we unconsciously tell ourselves, or that others have of us. Chuck has a unique ability to identify those narratives, diagram them, and help develop methods for more mindful behavior. He’s had a profound impact on my success as a leader. Even my wife agrees!”
“Chuck was brought into Daimler-Chrysler to design and facilitate organizational learning programs. [He] made us demonstrably more effective as individuals and as a group. I then worked with him as a personal coach every other week for a period of about two years. He is particularly skilled in interpersonal relationships and in facilitating the shift that happens when you recognize you can’t control somebody else, you can only effect your own behavior. That shift is high leverage. He is also a person of high integrity, and he is rare in his sincere desire to help people become more effective. I highly recommend him.” ”
“Chuck and I have been working together for almost ten years, which has had a substantial impact on my leadership as well as my personal development. His models of communication and leadership are things I still share with my teams. Chuck has helped me go way beyond words and actions, and deep into my thinking patterns and unconscious judgments and “stories”. This journey has not only made me a better leader, but a better person.”
“I have had the privilege of working with Chuck for over 20 years, first at Chrysler Corporation and now at DTE Energy. I have worked with many executive coaches and Chuck’s approach and skills are unique and effective. Coaches make a difference when their clients trust them and have confidence in their knowledge and skills. Chuck is in high demand at DTE Energy because of what he brings to the table and his clients know he helps them create the change they want in their personal and professional life by focusing on themselves. There are a lot of people who are more effective at what they do and more fulfilled because of Chuck.”