Someday--when all the dust has settled from the current financial crisis, the stories have been written, the lessons have been learned, and the historians have analyzed--I believe that people will look back and honor many of the decisions that were made for the greater good, sometimes at personal expense. On Monday of this week I heard Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren speak at a Women’s High Tech Coalition meeting. One of the audience questions was, “What was your decision process to vote for the bailout?”

In her answer, Eshoo told of another congressman who confided to her, “If I vote for this, I won’t get re-elected. But it’s the right thing to do for the country, so I’m voting for it.” She added that 50% of her constituents here in California were opposed to the bill and the other 50% were violently opposed to it. But after listening to the arguments and hearing the Secretary of Treasury describe the potential consequences she voted with her conscience.

That started me thinking of times when conscience and the human spirit have overcome hardship and I pulled out an old Times article I had clipped, coincidentally, from this same date one year ago. It was the story of a child of a bohemian poet from the U.S. living in the Italian Alps just as the WWII broke out. When the boy was four years old his mother was taken away to Dachau, forcing him to live on the streets with other abandoned children, stealing food, and living a nearly feral lifestyle. Eventually his little gang landed in a hospital where conditions were only slightly better. To ensure the boys didn’t run away, they were not given any clothing. Five years later, released from Dachau, his mother searched for him extensively and brought him back to the United States. Sixty years later, Mario Capecchi--who spoke no English, was illiterate at nine years old, and had never been to school--won the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

What gives us this ability to overcome even the most extreme hardships and achieve greatness? At the moment, many of us around the world are worried as we watch our investments shrink, our companies struggle as key customers disappear, and face the potential of our own jobs being affected. As I’ve told my team, it’s easy to be a leader when things are going great. When things aren’t going well, but you know what to expect, then it’s easier to see a brighter future and lead a team toward that future. But when there’s so much unknown--and only fools would predict the future at this moment--then the stamina of a leader is fully called into action.

How will we help those who work with us get through this period? We each have a choice to make--whether we formally lead others or we lead informally--since we are all leaders. Do we want to be remembered as someone who authentically inspired during uncertain times, without crossing into banal optimism? Can we provide genuine hope, transparency, and resolution of ambiguity while facing personal uncertainty?

I know that others are sacrificing now, as in the case of the congressman who knows he will not be re-elected. And others have suffered in the past, like Capecchi. We each have a choice to make as we deal with our own emotions and fears during this economic crisis. We can be leaders and be remembered as leaders. Or we can let circumstances overcome us. Because I am inspired by those who have chosen to rise above their circumstances, both inside and outside of Sun, I hope and aim toward that myself. Now. Because now is the time that really matters.

I want to thank my whole team in Sun Learning Services (SLS) and tell the whole world how proud I am of them. In the course of just one week, we have received some incredible validation from our industry.

It started on September 25th, when two separate organizations honored us with five different awards on the same date. This is such a great endorsement of all our hard work. Even though there is always room for improvement and still a lot of opportunity for us to grow, it's nice every once in a while for someone else to notice your achievements.

First, Chief Learning Officer magazine gave us its gold Learning Team Award for creatively solving problems to gain greater efficiencies while increasing market traction. We were rewarded for internal innovations--like our internal Sales University and online games that teach new hires about our business, mission and vision--as well as external results, such as our revamped partner program and our “iTunes meets YouTube” learning site, Sun Learning eXchange.

Then, through a process that included blind review by at least four judges per entry, Brandon Hall Research bestowed four Excellence in Learning Awards on SLS—more than any other organization. (IBM won three.) Winners were announced at a ceremony at the Innovations in Learning Conference in San Jose, California. We were honored in the following categories:

• Best Innovation in Learning Technology – We won a “bronze” award for our collaborative learning environment, which is like an LMS on steroids--a resource-rich, Web 2.0, one-stop learning shop for employees.

• Best Learning Team – We received another bronze award for teamwork, innovation, efficiency and results in delivering millions of hours of training in 120 countries across employees, customers, partners and our developer and college student communities.

• Best Use of Mobile Learning – We took home the gold for Sun Learning eXchange because it's innovative, sophisticated and highly tailored to the needs of our users.

• Best Use of Blogs, Wikis, or Other Content-Sharing Tools for Learning – Here, we earned a gold for the breadth and depth of our use of collaborative tools for everything from running our program office to our new hire site.

Finally, on October 2^nd, we were recognized as one of the BEST learning organizations in the world by the largest professional learning society in the world, ASTD. This award also relies on a prestigious panel of judges who review lengthy applications while the companies' identities are kept masked. To win, a BEST learning organization needs to demonstrate an overall commitment to excellence, but we were also given special recognition for our innovation, the scope of learners we serve and for pushing the boundaries of informal learning. Sounds like Sun, doesn't it?

Once again, accomplishments this big don't happen without big contributions from a highly talented team. It's great to see that others agree we have a team that warrants pride. This is heady stuff, but we are still acutely aware of the areas where we can continue to improve.

One very valuable part of the award process is that the organizations that give the awards send back comments from the panel of judges to us, so we can see their ideas for how to keep getting better. Coupled with feedback from our internal and external customers, we are ready to take it to the next level.