AI Will Not Replace the Human Edge

Travis Windling leads talent acquisition strategy, operations and contingent workforce globally for Royal Bank of Canada. On this episode of Unusual Attitudes, he got me thinking hard about where work is going and what we still need from people inside it. We went deep on AI, talent, leadership and the strange new gap between what’s measurable and what actually matters.

He also brought a very personal lens to the discussion because for him this isn’t just about work, but the kind of future our kids will inherit. 

“What jobs are they going to land in?” he asked, and that question framed everything that followed. It’s one thing to talk about the future of work in abstract terms, yet quite another thing to think about the world your children will inherit.

[Watch the podcast, listen on Spotify, or continue reading for some quick takeaways]

The Pace Keeps Changing

Windling kept coming back to speed. The pace of change is no longer gradual. It is accelerating. And that means the old way of doing things doesn’t work..

He said it plainly, “The order of operation is much faster now.” 

That line stuck with me because it captures the shift better than any polished strategy deck ever could. We are moving from idea to prototype to working solution far quicker than before.

One of the strongest parts of our conversation was about skills. Not just technical skills, but human skills, adaptability, critical thinking and judgment. 

Windling put it well when he said the focus is moving toward “how do I get to that adaptability? How do I get to that critical thinking?”

That’s the point. AI can help build things faster. But the question becomes whether we are asking the right questions in the first place. 

“It really is how do you combine those two things to make something meaningful,” he said. 

That is the new game.

Resumes Aren’t Enough

We also went deep on resumes. Windling was clear that they don’t tell the whole story. 

“A resume is never going to have that,” he said, referring to potential, growth and the ability to solve problems in new ways. 

I agree. Resumes are a record of the past. They’re not a full map of what a person can become.

That is why Windling believes the future is about adjacent skills, outcome orientation and seeing the person beyond the paper. 

“It is truly about adjacent skills,” he said. “Look for people who can design or solve a problem in an analogous way to that outcome.” 

That’s a much better way to think about talent.

The Human Still Matters

For all the talk about automation, Windling was firm on one thing: The human can’t disappear. 

“I would advocate never removing the human,” he said. 

That matters, especially in high-stakes environments where scale and consistency can easily strip away judgment and empathy.

He also made a strong case for balance. 

“It is a bit of art and science,” he said. 

That’s exactly right. Good teams are built by mixing strengths, weaknesses and complementary styles.

In regulated industries especially, full automation creates risk. It can remove nuance. It can also create legal exposure at scale. But if you rely only on gut feel, you lose consistency and fairness.

Another theme that came up was candidate experience. 

“I am a glass box,” he said. “I will tell you what I am evaluating. I will tell you what the steps in the process are.” 

That kind of openness is refreshing.

He is right that people want clarity when making a career move. They want to know what’s happening. They want to know when they will hear back. They want to feel respected. Transparency does that. It makes the process less mysterious and a lot more human.

Recruiters Need A New Job

We also talked about the future of recruiting itself. Windling sees the role changing in a big way. The scheduling. The screening. The repetitive admin work. That all needs to be automated. 

What remains is the part that matters most. The relationship. The story. The sell.

He said recruiters should become “brand ambassadors” and “messengers.” It’s a better use of their time and a better experience for candidates. As he pointed out, “They do not want to be scheduling interviews.” 

Nobody got into talent work for that part.

In the end, this conversation kept circling back to one idea. People still want people. They want judgment. They want context. They want connection. And they do not want work to become so efficient that it loses all feeling.

Windling summed up the spirit of it best when he said, “It is just about people being people and us doing what we are best at.” 

That is the heart of the episode. And it is why this one is worth your time.

So start with your point of departure. Map the current process. Document the human touch points. Understand where value is actually being created. Only then should you layer in AI. Don’t bolt new technology onto a broken system and hope for magic. Rebuild the workflow first. Then let the tools amplify it. That is how transformation actually happens.