<p>We live in times of change.&nbsp; In good times and in bad, change is the one true constant.&nbsp; But in any era and any economy, there are some&nbsp; human characteristics that, when we hold true to them, form a solid foundation that we can build on.&nbsp; </p> <p>Business challenges fill the Twitter streams, the papers and the airwaves today along with the fears these changes bring to the people living through them.&nbsp; </p> <p>As I read about and experience the changes of our times, I draw on the lessons my grandparents taught me in times long past.</p> <p><a href="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/grandma-gleason-003.jpg"><img style="border-width:0;margin:5px;" height="171" alt="John Carmichael, c.1965" src="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/grandma-gleason-003_thumb.jpg" width="244" align="right" border="0"></a>The first lesson was learned from my Grandpa Carmichael when I was probably about five years old.&nbsp; We were looking at a picture book and I asked him what a word&nbsp; meant.&nbsp; He took me by the hand, walked me down to his home office, and pulled a Webster's dictionary from the shelf.&nbsp; Opening the book, he said "let's look it up and then we can talk about it."&nbsp; And so we did.&nbsp; The word that day was dromedary.&nbsp; A bit easier to define than complex issues like ethics, integrity, and leadership.&nbsp; But the lesson still holds.</p> <p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethics" target="_blank">Ethics: definitions</a> from Merriam-Webster Online</p> <ol> <li>the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation  <li>a set of moral principles <strong>:</strong> a theory or system of moral values&nbsp; <li>the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group  <li>a guiding philosophy  <li>a consciousness of moral importance  <li>a set of moral issues or aspects (as rightness) </li></ol> <p><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/integrity" target="_blank">Integrity: definitions</a> From Merriam-Webster Online</p> <ol> <li>firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values  <li>an unimpaired condition  <li>the quality or state of being complete or undivided </li></ol> <p><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leadership" target="_blank">Leadership: definitions</a>&nbsp; from Merriam-Webster Online</p> <ol> <li>the office or position of a <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/leader">leader</a>  <li>capacity to lead  <li>the act or an instance of leading</li></ol> <p><a href="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/william-g-koerber.jpg"><img style="border-width:0;margin:5px;" height="244" alt="William G. Koerber and Ida Mae Koerber Massnick" src="http://new.corepurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/william-g-koerber_thumb.jpg" width="174" align="right" border="0"></a>Later that evening, we visited my other grandparents at their home on Port Drive in Detroit.&nbsp;&nbsp; Sitting in Grandpa Koerber's lap,&nbsp; I held out my favoite picture book.&nbsp; Pointing to the picture, I asked.&nbsp; "Grandpa - what's this?" "A camel" he told me.&nbsp; "No Grandpa, it's a dromedary - see only one hump."&nbsp; "Why you are right, Miss Smarty Pants, it is a dromedary after all." </p> <p>Grandma told me, a few years later when we went back for his funeral, that Grandpa told that story to all his friends.&nbsp; He would laugh and brag about how amazed he was to be learning lessons about dromedaries from a five year old girl.&nbsp; But what stuck with me from that long ago night was what both Grandma and Grandpa had explained to me.&nbsp; "It's not just what you know that is important.&nbsp; It's what you do&nbsp; with it."</p> <p>So as we look at the definitions above, we know what the words mean.&nbsp; The question is not what we know - but what we do with it.</p> <p>As I look at the definitions above and think about my own experiences and what's changing in the world around me, I still draw on the skills my grandparents taught me.&nbsp; </p> <p>Studying the the words, as defined by Merriam-Webster, a definite and interrelated pattern emerges that allows me to synthesize my own understanding and beliefs.</p> <p>Ethics becomes simply knowing what is right.&nbsp; Integrity is the act of then doing what is right - even when it is inconvenient or uncomfortable.&nbsp;&nbsp; Thus, leadership is taking the personal responsibility to step out in front while basing your decisions on your own ethics and integrity as you move forward.&nbsp; </p> <p>My grandparents must have also known this.&nbsp; For during their lives, each was a living example.&nbsp; They taught these values to their children and their grandchildren. Just as I am trying to pass them on to mine.&nbsp;&nbsp; I guess some things don't change that much after all.</p> <p>Thanks for stopping by.&nbsp; Stay Tuned...</p> <blockquote> <p>- Joan Koerber-Walker</p> <div class="wlWriterSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:78f171f8-18ef-4b2a-b0ac-df2fb46b2c0b" style="display:inline;margin:0;padding:0;">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Joan%20Koerber-Walker" rel="tag">Joan Koerber-Walker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/CorePurpose" rel="tag">CorePurpose</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Ethics" rel="tag">Ethics</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Integrity" rel="tag">Integrity</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Leadership" rel="tag">Leadership</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Change" rel="tag">Change</a></div></blockquote>