A man and his father are traveling by car. The car stalls at some railroad tracks. A train comes along and hits the car. The father is killed instantly. The man is severely injured. They take the man to the hospital. The surgeon takes one look at the man and says, "I can't operate on this man. He is my son!"

How can that be?

Answer: The surgeon is his mother.

I've been posing this riddle during many of my speeches for years and asking how many people got it. The number of hands that shoot up has increased dramatically. Today it is nearly 30 to 40 percent. Fifteen years ago it was only 5 to 10 percent. Hopefully 10 to 15 years from now it will be near 100 percent.

Why do I bring this up? March is Women's History Month to highlight the contributions of women in history and contemporary society. International Women's Day is March 8.

It's interesting to note that Women's History Month traces its beginnings back to 1911 when the California school district of Sonoma started a Women's History Week. But it wasn't until 1980 that President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as National Women's History Week.

The proclamation stated: "From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well ... ."

Throughout the next several years, Congress continued to pass joint resolutions designating a week in March as Women's History Week. In 1987, March was officially declared Women's History Month by Congress.

Make no mistake; women have always worked in this country. But they became most visible during World War II, when women worked on the production lines in factories that manufactured many of the supplies for the war effort. Remember Rosie the Riveter and the motto commonly associated with her image? "We can do it."

But those jobs returned largely to men after 1945, and there was a perception that women were no longer qualified for those jobs. It took another 30 years to establish that skills, not gender, determine the ability to perform on the job. As Bob Thaves observed, "Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels."

Women have been fighting to prove their worth in the workplace for generations. The Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 1970s signaled a real turning point. Progress has been steady, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Here are the stats from just a few months ago from colleges and universities across the United States.

61 percent of all the pharmacy graduates are women.

63 percent of the auditors and accountants are women.

41 percent of MBA students are women.

47 percent in law school are women.

48 percent in medical school are women.

The number of women entrepreneurs is multiplying two to four times faster than men, depending on which part of the country you study. Last year, 74 percent of all start-up companies were founded by women. According to Carlson Wagonlit Travel, female business travelers will equal their male counterparts in three to five years, up from 18 percent 25 years ago.

The statistic that really grabs my attention is that women entrepreneurs and business owners employ more people than the Fortune 500 companies combined.

In June 2009, women held almost 50 percent of the country's 132 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and their numbers are growing in the few sectors of the economy that are expanding. In health care, for example, women account for 79 percent of jobs gained (4.5 million), whereas men represent just 1.18 million new jobs. In government, women hold 94 percent of jobs created (1.8 million), and men account for 12,000 new jobs.

Still, salary disparities persist, although the gap is narrowing. Just not quickly enough.

I like the story about a first-grade teacher who asked her students to fill in the blanks on famous sayings. On the blackboard, the teacher wrote, "A miss is as good as a ________." Immediately a little girl raised her hand, stood beside her desk, and said proudly, "A miss is as good as a mister."

Mackay's Moral: History is herstory too.

President Abraham Lincoln was once criticized for referring to the Confederates in kind terms. A woman critic asked the president how he could speak generously of his enemies when he should rather destroy them.

"Why, madam," replied Lincoln, "do I not destroy them when I make them my friends?"

The moral of the story: Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.

Few people have had the ability to tell stories to illustrate points like our 16th president. I love good stories that teach a lesson. Here are a few of my favorites.

Lesson 1: A sales rep, an assistant and their manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a genie comes out. The genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first!" says the assistant. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Poof! She's gone.

"Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of pina coladas and the love of my life." Poof! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 2: An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people who remarked, "What a shame; he makes that little boy walk." They then decided they both would walk!

Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So they both rode the donkey.

Now they passed people who shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal, and he fell into the river and drowned.

Moral: You can't please everyone, so don't try.

Lesson 3: A frog asked two geese to take him south with them. At first they resisted; they didn't see how it could be done. Finally, the frog suggested that the two geese hold a stick in their beaks and that he would hold on to it with his mouth.

So off the unlikely threesome went, flying south over the countryside. It was quite a sight. People looked up and expressed great admiration at this demonstration of creative teamwork.

Someone said, "It's wonderful! Who was so clever to discover such a fine way to travel?" Whereupon the frog opened his mouth and said, "It was I," as he plummeted to the earth.

Moral: There is no "I" in team.

Lesson 4: An empress with no children decided to hold a competition to determine who would succeed her when she died. She summoned all the children in the city to her palace and gave each one a seed. "Plant this seed, care for it, and in one year bring back the flower that grows from it. Whoever brings me the most beautiful flower will be the next empress."

One young girl planted her seed in a pot and watered it every day, but nothing grew. At the end of the year she was devastated, but on the day set for inspection of the flowers, she picked up her pot and carried it to the palace.

All the other children brought colorful, vibrant flowers, but the empress only glanced at them. She walked straight to the young girl and smiled. "All the seeds I gave you had been boiled and were dead. Only you were honest enough to bring back the original seed I gave you. You will be a just and wise empress."

Moral: Tell the truth, even when it seems easier not to.

Great stories bring real life to essential lessons. They illustrate difficult situations. With practice, you might be the next Aesop!

Mackay's Moral: The real moral of this fable is that stories are a fabulous way to teach and learn!

When Janet looked at her pay stub, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that her company had deposited more than her normal wages into her bank account. However, on the next payday, her paycheck was significantly less than what it should have been, and she went to her boss to complain.

"I'm curious," her boss said, "Why didn't you say anything when we overpaid you the other week?"

Janet responded: "I was willing to overlook one mistake, but two is pushing it."

Integrity: Either you have it or you don't. It's not something that you can have one day but not the next. It should be a constant in your life, like brushing your teeth.

I was invited to speak at the third annual Integrity Summit in Phoenix. Its mission is to significantly increase the integrity quotient in organizations and across the marketplace. The annual event was co-founded by Jerry Colangelo and Gregg Ostro, who also created the Integrity Business Institute, for which I'm a special adviser.

Integrity Summit 2013's theme of Inspiring Individual Integrity to Win could not have come at a more critical time.

It seems the anti-heroes -- those doing wrong -- versus the heroes -- who do right -- are being promoted and celebrated in America all too often. Too many messages in the media and across society seem to say that getting what you want -- regardless of the means -- is just fine. Well, it isn't. You know that and I know that and so must our employees and job applicants.

Cheree McAlpine, chief compliance officer for Avnet, the world's largest computer parts supplier and a founding sponsor of the Integrity Summit, said: "Our ability to impact change, drive strategy and our ability to lead are all based on integrity. Integrity is not that complicated. It's not academic. It's actually quite simple. It's the lessons we have learned to do the right thing; to stand for what we believe in."

Integrity begins at the top. As leaders we must set the example -- that alone inspires our employees to do right. We must live by it in all we do, starting in the corner offices and promoted and expected throughout the organization, ensuring integrity is first and foremost in our decision-making. Enduring leaders know that the numbers will be better if integrity is not optional.

Peter Fine, CEO of event sponsor Banner Health, said: "If you're going to be an organization of integrity, you have to communicate what that means to employees on an ongoing basis. The integrity of our employees is the very best selling tool."

I think it's smart business to recognize acts of integrity and celebrate and reward them in organizations just as much or more than financial achievements or increased efficiencies or even a brilliant idea are rewarded. Make no mistake, when employees understand that management requires integrity, it will become the norm.

Russ Johnson, CEO of Merchants Information Solutions, also a founding sponsor of this event, has a remarkable job applicant integrity test of which I'm a huge fan and consultant. We use it at MackayMitchell Envelope Company. It screens out the bad apples who are work-comp abusers, commit fraud, steal, are hostile and so on. It also reduces work comp rates, as well as worker turnover and unemployment payouts. The test takes 15 minutes, is in 21 languages and costs $20 or less. The test is available at integritybusinessinstitute.com/test.

Here's an example of what integrity looks like:

Tom, a hotel worker, could not afford a computer for his son, who desperately needed one for school. At the end of a hotel event when everyone was gone, Tom discovered a laptop had been left behind. He waited awhile, and no one came back. Was this the computer he so needed for his son?

No one would know he took it. No cameras were in the area, and no other workers were around. Tom knew it was wrong to steal, but isn't helping your son a good and righteous thing? He decided to take the computer. As he went to grab it, his values and his boss's words about always doing what's right kicked in.

Tom turned in the computer to his boss. Later that day, Tom received a $1,000 check from the executive who owned the laptop, plus he was promoted to supervisor. Tom's son had a new computer that night.

Mackay's Moral: Only those on the level can climb the highest peaks.