‘When change is inevitable, transformation is essential’

Heather Graves

Staff

December 2, 2024

NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – When Damian La Croix retired as superintendent of the Howard-Suamico School District at the end of last year – a role he held for 19 years – he said he had no intention of sitting back and relaxing.

“I’m calling it rewiring, not retiring,” he said. “That gave me an opportunity to take a lot of the experience I gained from my 33 years in public education… and help inform and develop business leaders – both public and private.”

A bit more about La Croix

Though La Croix was born in Madison, he said he moved around the state quite a bit as a kid.

“My dad was in agribusiness, so he took different jobs throughout the State of Wisconsin,” he said.

Landing in Fond du Lac for high school, La Croix said he remained in the Northeast Wisconsin region for college – attending Lawrence University in Appleton where he earned his undergraduate degree in history and played four years of college football.

After graduating, La Croix started his career in education in the Pulaski Community School District.

“I was a teacher and coach before being promoted to assistant principal,” he said. “I was promoted to principal when we went to referendum and built a new high school in Pulaski.”

After 11 years in Pulaski, La Croix said he was ready for a change.

“We had four children in five years, so we decided to slow the roll a little bit,” he said. “I had an opportunity to apply for a principalship at Suamico Elementary School, which is a beautiful little school on County Trunk B, where I served for three years before being asked in 2005 to apply for the superintendent job of the Howard-Suamico School District.”

While serving as superintendent, La Croix said there was a significant amount of “cross-pollination” with business sector leaders, practices and principals, including the Partners in Education at the Greater Green Bay Chamber.

“The mission there is to identify, develop and support education and business, to help learners prepare for productive community lives and strengthen economic vitality in the region,” he said.

So, even though his career was spent in the public sector, La Croix said “I was the beneficiary of a lot of private sector partnerships.”

“I think that’s one of the things we really became known for at the Howard-Suamico School District, and are still known for – this desire to reach out and apply some of the principles and practices in the private sector, where it makes sense, into the public sector,” he said. 

La Croix said spending time with local business leaders through Partners in Education – such as Chad Wiegand, legal counsel at Schreiber Foods and Mark Kaiser, CEO of Lindquist Machine Corporation – “partners became friends.”

“And through those friendships and partnerships and spending time actually at Schreiber and Lindquist, taking tours, again, cross-pollinating, it really informed my judgment about best practices and how to apply them,” he said.

All of this, La Croix said, helped him recognize the knowledge and expertise he gained through his three-plus decades in public education – many in leadership positions – could help support the next generation of leaders – thus the launch of Damian La Croix Consulting.

Everything to everyone

When he launched the business, La Croix said he knew he couldn’t be everything to everyone – “so you need to think about where you could have the greatest value.”

“In my particular case, the four areas I identify on the website include personalized coaching, team development, inspirational keynotes and kind of like a tech group,” he said. “I don’t call it a tech group. I call it a circle of seven. We bring seven C-suite, high-level leaders together and the wisdom of the group facilitates conversations about common issues and common challenges, and (we) look for shared strategies around how to lead at a higher level of effectiveness.”

Though so far many of his clients are in the public sector – “for obvious reasons” – La Croix said the methods aren’t specific or unique to it.

“I have some private sector partners who are coming on board as we speak,” he said.

When he decided to retire in June and move on to this new venture, La Croix said the decision was the result of affirmation from those he encountered during his time as superintendent.

“Most people don’t realize that the Howard-Suamico School District is a large organization with a $90-million to $100-million budget,” he said. “My core leadership team was 35, which included principals, assistant principals and district office personnel. I was responsible – minimally one or two times a month – on a formal basis for leading the team. And then, of course, once or twice a month, doing the same in terms of engaging with my board of education, operationalizing a strategic plan and making sure there was alignment between the vision, the mission and the values of the organization and the direction we were trying to go.”

La Croix said many of the challenges and opportunities present in the private sector “have applications in the public sector” as well.

As a self-described leadership junkie – “I can’t get enough training/development, read enough leadership books or get exposure to enough good leaders to probably ever be satisfied” – La Croix said transitioning from his role as superintendent to owning his own leadership consulting firm was a natural pivot.

“I feel like I’ve got a lot of great experience and have a lot of gas left in the tank,” he said. “I feel like there’s purpose and meaning in this for me. I can serve as a resource for others – both through the mistakes that I’ve made and lessons I’ve learned, and hopefully be a great supportive partner for others on their journey.”

A lonely journey

Through his own experience, La Croix said leadership can be a lonely journey that is accompanied by isolation and the heavy weight of decision-making.

“As it relates to superintendents – you are an N-of-1 in the organization,” he said. “We work for a board of education, which has five to seven to nine members. You have a team that reports to you, but there’s nobody else like you in the organization.”

Oftentimes, La Croix said there were aspects of the job he couldn’t bring home with him or talk about with friends as “I couldn’t divulge for privacy reasons or confidentiality reasons.”

“I think it could be a very isolating position,” he said. “This is just about the time when Facebook and the smartphone were coming out. It was on the heels of 9/11, and it was just prior to the economic crash of 2008. And I navigated (the district) through a worldwide pandemic.”

La Croix said he leads his website with the phrase – “Change is inevitable, transformation is essential.”

“You can’t stay the same, you need to learn and grow as a leader,” he said. “I think probably all of us, if you think about who your mentor has been over the course of your career, you could probably name a small handful of people that really served as a catalyst for you going to the next level of your growth and development. I would argue that we all need to be able to name two or three people.”

La Croix said he doesn’t know of any great leaders who haven’t stood on the shoulders of somebody else.

“And what I mean by that is you need to have a mindset for embracing change personally and professionally,” he said.

The emphasis that La Croix said he stresses with his Damian La Croix Consulting, is “you don’t have to walk that path alone.”

“What could be worse than feeling like, ‘Man, I’m on this journey, but I’m taking it on my own, and I don’t have anyone to confide in. I don’t have a thought partner I can trust,’” he said. “Unfortunately, I think a lot of the leaders find themselves either in that position or have gone through seasons of experiencing that during their careers.”

When he starts working with a client – an individual or a team – La Croix said he first identifies their leadership style.

“I call it discovering, uncovering and recovering,” he said. “By that, I mean, we’re all on the journey, right? As Brené Brown says, “The cave you’re afraid to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

In his work, La Croix said he often references the phrase in Patrick Lencioni’s book: “The Ideal Team Player” – smart, humble and hungry.

“By humble I mean it’s a recognition that as a leader, you have more to learn,” he said. “By hungry, it’s, ‘I want to grow and get better based upon the recognition that I haven’t arrived yet.’”

La Croix said he likens leadership coaching to going to the gym.

“I went to a CrossFit gym for a number of years because I got to a point where I recognized that I wasn’t going to get in the level of shape I needed and wanted by doing it on my own,” he said. “I think leadership coaching takes a similar approach. It’s a leader who recognizes that ‘I’m on this path from good to better to best.’ You might be good, but you could have the capacity to get better – the question is how do you get there?”

La Croix said he knows very few leaders who can do that on their own.

“Growth and development, simply, is not a solo sport,” he said. “We need a community of people that can support us on that journey.”

From failed referendums and budget shortfalls, to talent wars and the COVID-19 pandemic, La Croix said he embraced valuable leadership lessons that he can now use to help leaders of any public company or private organization.

Three main lessons include:

Work on the (big) small things

During his tenure at the Howard-Suamico School District, La Croix said retention and engagement numbers – which he said was a reflection of the culture – consistently ranked high. 

“More than 90% of employees said they would recommend our district to someone else seeking employment,” he said. “Numbers that big don’t happen overnight and they don’t happen from one big, strategic push. Instead, good leaders know that strong culture happens little by little, through small gestures, by building relationships, one person at a time.”

La Croix said the smallest gesture can have the biggest impact and the best leaders work at it.

“For me, it was important to know the names of all 1,000 district teachers and staff,” he said. “Greeting people by their names made them feel valued and in turn, enriched our culture.”

Do hard things

When he was serving as the principal of Suamico Elementary and the superintendent position opened up, La Croix said he contemplated applying but was advised not to as the district was looking for someone with experience.

“However, after receiving 21 applications and interviewing three finalists, the district determined its candidates didn’t align, and I was asked to apply,” he said. 

When he accepted the job, La Croix said he was the fifth leader in just six years and faced the reality of having recently lost two referendums to expand elementary schools despite the rapidly growing community population and space crunch it created.

“I walked into a climate of distrust across the community, disillusionment across the staff and dysfunction across the school board,” he said. “Nothing was more challenging – or more rewarding – than rebuilding that trust.”

Create bold vision through brave vulnerability

Turning the ship into a turbulent storm, La Croix said, is one thing – “moving courageously toward new horizons and into uncharted waters demands a different kind of leadership.”

“It requires making space for vulnerability, in yourself and for those you lead,” he said. “I steered our district out of its turbulence and into its full, innovative potential by opening up as a leader – inviting input, engaging in active listening, obtaining insights from employees.”

Through his vulnerability, La Croix said he was able to open the door to breakthrough ideas and possibilities.

“Today, the Howard-Suamico School District is a charter member of the prestigious League of Innovative Schools, setting the standard for excellence in critical thinking and technology integration, and using best-in-class resources and instructional practices to engage today’s learners in new and exciting ways,” he said. “It’s a bold vision realized, made possible by leadership vulnerability.”

Leadership, La Croix said, is both learned and earned.

“After 33 years of shaping the character and skill sets of our present and future workforce, and leading those who teach and prepare them, I can offer valuable insights and guidance to help transform your leadership potential,” he said.

For more on Damian La Croix Consulting, visit damianmlacroix.com.