Michael Hirsch is a product leadership coach, educator, and AI strategist who helps organizations confidently adopt AI where it matters most—inside their product teams. With over 20 years of experience across mobile, SaaS, consumer electronics, and developer ecosystems, he equips teams to move from AI curiosity to real-world capability through coaching, structured enablement programs, and hands-on workshops.

As the founder of Break a Pencil Consulting, Michael helps product teams integrate AI not just as a tool—but as a mindset and strategic lever. His approach blends technical fluency with culture-building and practical frameworks. In one standout project, he designed a dual-cohort training program for a consulting firm, tailoring AI skills to both product and delivery teams. The result: faster documentation, more consistent tool usage, and internal champions who drove AI forward across the organization.

Michael teaches strategy and AI at the University of Washington and Seattle University and leads the popular course AI for Product Leaders on Maven. His frameworks, including the ABC&D method for uncovering AI use cases, help teams embed AI into everyday work like market analysis, stakeholder comms, and prioritization.

Whether it’s hands-on AI agent training or long-term capability building, Michael gives organizations the systems and support they need to turn AI from a buzzword into a competitive advantage.

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