Is This the Way It's Supposed to Be? — An Author Spotlight with Dr. Undraye and Dr. Loretta Howard

This week on Leadership Matters, the microphone turns around. Co-hosts Dr. Undraye P. Howard and Dr. Loretta A. Howard step into the guest chairs to discuss their new book, Is This the Way It's Supposed to Be? Lessons in Leadership and Lived Experiences — an honest, often funny, deeply personal exploration of the gap between how leadership is supposed to look and how it actually unfolds.

Two kids from Milwaukee grew up just miles apart, never crossing paths until graduate school — then earned their doctorates side by side and built a marriage, a partnership, and three decades of leadership in the process. In this episode, they share the stories behind the book: the cafeteria outburst that sparked its central question, the "Barbecue Blunder" that turned a family cookout into a live lesson on equality versus equity, the first-grade class clown who almost hid his origin story from a board of directors, and the whispered playground moment that transformed an outsider's ache into a leader's superpower.

Along the way, they challenge some of leadership's most comfortable assumptions: that control is real (it's an illusion — influence is what matters), that leaders must project certainty (the best ones lead from "the corner of Confusion and Hope"), and that the past is something to outrun (it's actually your most valuable teacher). Whether you're a seasoned executive or an emerging leader, this conversation will leave you with better questions — starting with the one that changes everything: Is this the way it's supposed to be?