TEDxDuluth speaker Enrique Velázquez talks about leadership in a way that feels practical and down-to-earth: take care of people first, and trust that the results will follow. His path from high-tech global operations to public service is less about heroics and more about noticing what feels meaningful and choosing to lean into it.

From Tech Deadlines to Community Work

Before working for the City of Minneapolis, Enrique spent years in high tech, managing customer experience and complex engineering projects around the world. One project in particular required him to help several countries run their first free elections after a sales team signed a deal they didn’t fully understand.

He jokes that he had “six months or democracy was going to fail,” but what stuck with him wasn’t just the pressure – it was how quickly the company moved on to the next revenue target after the elections went well. That moment didn’t make him a savior; it just made him realize he wanted his day-to-day work to line up better with his own values. He chose to pivot toward work where the primary outcome was community wellbeing rather than just profit.

Growing Up as an “Ambassador Kid”

Enrique grew up in a military family that moved often, living in places like Panama, parts of Europe, and Southeast Asia. He attended kindergarten in three different countries while navigating German, English and Japanese while interpreting for my parents who spoke only Spanish. By the time we were stateside again, I had attended nearly a dozen schools.

Because his parents were from Puerto Rico and learned English later in life, he and his sister often helped with language and day-to-day logistics. He thinks of that role as being an “ambassador” more than anything else – learning how to listen, how not to assume, and how to represent his family and country as respectfully as he could. Those same skills show up now when he’s working through disagreements in neighborhoods, trying to get people to a shared vision without pretending he has all the answers.

Vision as a Compass, Not a Map

Enrique returns often to the importance of a clear vision. He describes vision not as a rigid, step-by-step plan, but as a compass that points toward a shared destination without dictating every turn. When he leads teams, he likes to sketch a maze with a clear start and end point, but with a blank middle:

• The Start: Where the team is now.
• The End: The shared vision or outcome.
• The Blank Middle: The space for team members to design the path, make decisions, and develop new skills.

His role is to support the team with tools and encouragement, rather than prescribing every move. As he explains it, if leaders prescribe every step, “you’re not going to grow.”

Regulatory Services, But Human

Today, Enrique is the Director of Regulatory Services for the City of Minneapolis, overseeing everything from animal care and traffic enforcement to housing inspections and the city’s response to unsheltered homelessness. On paper, that can sound pretty stiff, but he talks about it in everyday terms: people, homes, and how to keep things safe without forgetting that real lives are involved.

He shared one winter story about a burst pipe in an apartment building on New Year’s Eve that forced residents to evacuate. His department had to enforce safety rules, which understandably upset people, but some staff later showed up at a fundraiser and quietly chipped in to help residents with costs. For Enrique, that isn’t heroic; it is just what neighbors do when they’re able.

Tiny Homes and Shared Streets

Enrique is also involved with Sacred Settlement efforts – ideas that look at tiny home clusters as one option for people who are chronically homeless. These communities would mix residents who have experienced homelessness with volunteers who haven’t, so support grows out of everyday interactions, not formal programs alone.

The focus is less on grand solutions and more on small, steady changes that make life a bit more livable, such as:

• Affordable, dignified shelter in small, intentional communities.
• Everyday proximity to supportive neighbors who see residents as equals.

Go Behind the Scenes

In the full Zoom conversation, Enrique tells a story that fits his low-key style: he walked into an Amtrak station with $100, asked the clerk to “pick a direction,” and ended up in St. Paul with no plan and no place to stay. Fellow passengers helped him find a couch to crash on and a convenience store job within a day – a very “Minnesota nice” welcome that still makes him laugh.

Watch the full, unfiltered clip here: [Link to Full Zoom Clip]