The Human Element

The Human Element, presented by Wisq, is a podcast hosted by Barb Bidan where CHROs and senior HR leaders share candid stories and practical perspectives on how AI and innovation are shaping the future of HR. In this episode, Barb sits down with Remko Verheul, Senior Vice President and Head of People at Wrike, to talk about Wrike's dual approach to AI adoption, what leaders need to model for their teams, and how to use AI as a strategic thought partner. Subscribe today.

The challenge for most organizations is not debating whether AI will impact their operations, but how to truly integrate it. Many companies approach AI implementation with either a top-down mandate or a bottom-up, ad-hoc experimentation. Wrike Senior Vice President and Head of People Remko Verheul has a different answer: a deliberate blend of both.

Verheul frames his guiding principle simply: "human intelligence plus AI is organizational intelligence." For Verheul, AI is a tool to amplify what makes people uniquely human, and the goal is always to bring the two together rather than treat them as competing forces.

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A Dual Approach to AI Adoption

Wrike, as a company whose core product facilitates structured work, uses its own platform extensively. "We eat our own dog food," Verheul explains, detailing how every workflow, from product design to finance, runs through their system. This internal application provides a fertile ground for AI integration, driving both top-down strategic initiatives and bottom-up user-driven experiments.

From a top-down perspective, Wrike clearly orchestrates which teams and departments will develop new workflows with agents. From the bottom up, the company creates an environment where the "user base is creating and developing agents to be used in the work environment." Together, the two approaches keep innovation moving without losing strategic direction.

Verheul is direct about the risk of skipping the top-down piece: "If you only have it done user based bottom up, there is a potential risk that it's losing the aim perspective. Hence you also need some top down directional perspective." Creativity thrives, but efforts stay aligned with broader organizational goals.

AI as an Amplifier

"AI is not about replacing humans, but it's all about amplifying what makes us unique and human," Verheul says. Wrike positions AI as a tool that makes work more interesting and more valuable, rather than a threat to the people doing it.

One example from the HR team is using AI in the hiring process. Wrike integrates tools to streamline recruitment, including AI for interview note-taking and scoring competencies. Interviewers review and confirm the output, but the technology helps "prevent bias in the hiring process and to enable people to take decisions based upon what's been discussed and not what's been kind of imagined or presumed." Mundane, repetitive tasks get removed while the quality and fairness of critical people processes improves.

Leaders Must Lead with Vulnerability and Curiosity

Verheul emphasizes that leaders play a pivotal role in fostering an AI-ready workplace. Beyond simply championing AI, he advocates for a specific leadership posture: "We need to be very visible about what's happening around AI. And that means being visible about and showing visibility towards what we know and towards what we don't know and sharing also our vulnerability in that."

This transparency normalizes the learning curve and encourages teams to embrace uncertainty together. For Wrike leaders, it translates into two practical expectations. First, AI-first recruitment: new hires need to come in with an "AI mindset first." Second, AI integration in planning: for every new proposal or plan, the question gets asked, "what AI elements are in there and what can you do different with utilizing AI more?"

When asked what he looks for in candidates, Verheul pointed to "an inquisitive or enquiring mindset." Curiosity, not expertise. A candidate who has run their case presentation through a language model and asked for the counterargument is demonstrating exactly the mindset Wrike wants to hire.

From Misconception to Strategic Advantage

The biggest misconception about AI in the workplace, according to Verheul, is that it is a threat to work. His view is the opposite: "AI is an enricher of work. AI will make work much more interesting." When people understand that AI is a co-pilot designed to streamline processes and elevate their contributions, they are more likely to embrace it.

For HR leaders navigating this shift, Verheul offers practical advice rooted in strategic thinking: the ability to "zoom in and to zoom out." This means applying AI to both detailed, repetitive tasks and using it as a strategic thought partner. He suggests running proposals through AI models before critical meetings, prompting them to respond as different stakeholders would. "Run all your proposals through the models and get feedback and prompt the models to provide feedback from different angles," he advises, including asking for "CFO type" or "CEO type" feedback. The result is better prepared, more pressure-tested thinking before you walk into the room.

For a practical starting point, Verheul recommends a resource he uses himself nearly every week: There's an AI for That. Plug in what you are trying to accomplish and it surfaces AI tools built specifically for that task. A low-friction way to stay current without having to go looking.

To hear more conversations like this one, subscribe to The Human Element wherever you get your podcasts.