Human Side Up: Luis Velasquez on the work of becoming

Luis Velasquez is a leadership coach, author, and founder of Velas Coaching. With a background in academia and a global coaching practice shaped by lived experience, Luis brings a rare combination of humility and depth to his work. He teaches interpersonal dynamics at Stanford, contributes regularly to Harvard Business Review and Fast Company, and is the author of Ordinary Resilience: Rethinking How Effective Leaders Adapt and Thrive.

In this episode of Human Side Up, CLARA Founder and CEO Natasha Nuytten talks with Luis about what it means to grow through adversity and how resilience is not just something we’re born with, it’s something we build. Their conversation touches on identity, leadership, and the long path of reinvention.

Resilience is a practice

Luis describes resilience not as a trait, but a lived identity. “I want to be known as resilient,” he says. “And for me, resilience is made of three things: commitment, persistence, and optimism.” Each of these has been tested through personal experience. He moved to the United States without speaking English and went on to earn a PhD. He survived multiple brain surgeries. He’s completed more than one hundred marathons and ultra-distance races.

“I like to do hard things,” he says. “But a lot of times we confuse pain with discomfort. Life is hard. Leadership is hard. But if you are persistent, and you’re committed to something bigger than yourself, you do what needs to be done.”

Luis frames optimism as more than just attitude. For him, it began as a survival mechanism during a childhood shaped by poverty and civil war. “It started as a defense. But it worked. And it helped me see that I could create a different future.”

When reinvention is the only option

Luis’s original dream was to become a professor. After earning his doctorate and securing a faculty role at Michigan State University, it felt like everything was in place. Then came a brain tumor. And with it, the possibility that he might not walk or teach again.

“I reframed recovery as marathon training,” he says. “I wasn’t healing from surgery, I was training for something. That mindset helped me move forward.”

What followed was an unexpected second act. After a chance consulting opportunity led to a coaching assignment, his new path began to unfold. “They started calling me a coach before I even knew that was a real thing. I was just helping people.” That led to coaching work across twenty-two countries, often in high-stakes environments. In time, Luis built a practice of his own.

“I survived the tumor, but my career didn’t survive, and neither did my marriage,” he says. “So I had to reinvent myself. And sometimes, that’s the invitation life offers. Start again. Become something new.”

Leading with impact

Today, Luis works with senior leaders who are often both highly effective and highly difficult. “These are people their companies cannot afford to lose,” he says. “But they’re also the ones who damage psychological safety.” His approach is grounded in a belief that most people do not set out to cause harm. Instead, they lack the awareness to see how they are being perceived.

“When someone finds out they’re being seen as a jerk, they don’t like that. But that discomfort is the opening,” Luis explains. “It helps them ask, what do I want to be known for? And how do I get there?”

He guides leaders through three steps: awareness, skill-building, and habits. “Most of them already know how to be kind. They are already doing it with their families. The work is building the consistency to lead that way at work.”

The metrics that matter

Leadership is difficult to measure, but its effects are visible. Luis points to engagement, retention, and belonging as core indicators. “The biggest driver of employee engagement is the relationship with your manager. If people are disengaged or leaving, you can trace that back.”

He offers three foundational behaviors for leaders. The first is building real personal connection. “When people feel cared for, they work differently. You show up for each other.”

The second is clarity. Luis helps leaders distinguish between when they are wearing the manager hat and when they are wearing the leadership hat. “If you want people to take risks, you have to be clear about what matters. That includes how you treat failure.”

And the third is flexibility. “You cannot treat every employee the same. You have to understand where they are, what they need, and how much support or direction is required at any given time.”

At the heart of it all is a simple philosophy: leadership is relational. “People are not machines,” Luis says. “They are messy and dynamic. And when you see them clearly, everything changes.”

To hear more from Luis on resilience, reinvention, and coaching with compassion, watch the latest episode of Human Side Up here.