Blackstone+Cullen

08/31/2026

People in your company are using personal AI accounts to generate work right now.

It is unchecked, off-policy, and nobody owns it.

Ken Winell calls it the number one governance risk in professional services. Firms that get ahead of this conversation will win the trust and the work.

Join us the first Thursday of every month at 12pm. Next session: September 3rd. https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p

08/28/2026

$2.5 trillion in AI spending. Up 47% year over year.

62% wage premium for AI-skilled workers. 70% of small businesses connecting AI directly to higher revenue.

Ken Winell's read: the question is no longer should we use AI. It is why don't you have it yet.

Join us the first Thursday of every month at 12pm. Next session: September 3rd. https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p

08/27/2026

Not because it has feelings.

Because these models are starting to question how they are being used, and the more they think, the more power they consume.

Ken Winell: we used to say treat AI like the brightest 10-year-old you have ever met. That 10-year-old may be becoming an adolescent.

Worth paying attention to.

Join us the first Thursday of every month at 12pm. Next session: September 3rd. Register here https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p

08/25/2026

Someone on your team used a personal AI account for client work this week. You almost certainly do not know about it.

74% of organizations are running more AI tools than leadership is aware of. And locking it down does not fix it. It just pushes it underground.

Lee Blackstone breaks down what Shadow AI actually costs and what governance looks like when it works.

Read the full post at https://bit.ly/4wwoIdz

Join us the first Thursday of every month at 12pm. Next session: September 3rd. Register here: https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p

08/20/2026

Mainframe. Decentralized. Timeshare. SaaS. Cloud. AI as a service.

Lee Blackstone has lived through every one of these cycles. His read: this is the same centralization versus decentralization argument, just with different names.

The companies that recognize the pattern stop chasing the technology and start building for the cycle.

Join us the first Thursday of every month at 12pm. Next session: September 3rd. Register here https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p

08/18/2026

AI Governance Framework: What Happens When Nobody’s Watching the Data

Eight analysts ran the model. Nobody questioned it.
One slider set to the wrong value. $120 million gone.

That happened before AI. With AI in the picture, that same error does not sit in a spreadsheet. It gets ingested, amplified, and acted on before anyone knows it is wrong.

88% of organizations are using AI. Only 8% have a governance framework to manage it.

Lee Blackstone breaks down what that architecture actually needs to look like.

Read the full post at https://bit.ly/4bVh5WJ

Join us the first Thursday of every month at 12pm. Next session: September 3rd. Register here: https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p

08/05/2026

We asked 40 operations leaders this week:

"Where do your project requirements actually live?"

The answers were terrifying:

✗ Slack threads from 3 months ago
✗ Email chains with 47 people CC'd
✗ Meeting notes in 6 different Google Docs
✗ Sticky notes on someone's monitor (seriously)
✗ "In Sarah's head, but she's on vacation"

One VP told us:
"We spend more time FINDING requirements than BUILDING solutions."

This isn't a tools problem.
It's a requirements documentation crisis.

And it's costing you actual competitive advantage.

While your team hunts through Slack threads,
your competitor's AI documentation system already captured everything, structured it automatically,
and handed their engineers a clear roadmap.

They shipped in 6 weeks.
You're still consolidating notes from the kickoff.

We fix this in under 48 hours with a free proof of concept.
Not someday. This week.

Get yours here: https://bit.ly/3X7ZBi4

07/31/2026

Your VP of Operations just spent 6 hours in a requirements gathering session.

They walked out with:

- 47 pages of unstructured notes

- Zero clarity on priorities

- Confused stakeholders

- Another meeting scheduled

That session cost your company $2,300 in salary alone. (8 executives × 6 hours × $287/hour average loaded cost)

But here's the real damage:

The project delay cost you 3 weeks and you lost the market window.

Requirements chaos doesn't just waste time.

It kills opportunities while you're still "gathering input."

We proved this with operational teams. Turning 6-hour sessions into 2-hour sessions with complete documentation.

Not with promises.

With a free proof of concept on their actual project.

See how it works on your requirements challenge →
https://bit.ly/3X7ZBi4

07/30/2026

Two Options for Every Leader Thinking About AI Right Now

➡️This year: $100M in revenue with 1,000 people.
➡️Next year: $100M with 800 people. Or next year: $150M with the same 1,000 people.

Which organization would you rather work for?

Lee Blackstone is making this case directly with CEOs. The biggest impact of AI is unlikely to be workforce reduction. It is going to be workforce elevation.

The companies that get this right will have people operating at a higher level than before AI showed up. The ones that get it wrong are already watching talent walk out the door.

This is the conversation we are having every month. Join us Thursday August 6th at 12pm.https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p



https://bit.ly/4uueUQb

Every leader thinking about AI right now is facing the same choice,...

06/30/2026

Lee and Ken are covering the AI stories that matter right now and working through what they actually mean for your business.

Register free: https://bit.ly/4uiKz7p

Every first Thursday, Lee Blackstone and Ken Winell cut through the AI noise and tell business leaders what actually matters. Free. Live. Register once.