While the debate over whether effective leaders are born that way or can learn these skills, the fact remains that even natural-born leaders need some help in understand the dynamics involved in teams. All of the U.S. military branches of services recognized this need early on and established service academies to help train their future leaders, but people in business, academia and other professions also have relevant leadership education available as well. According to Barker and Rost (2000), the content of leadership education courses required for the 21st century should address three general categories: (i) the evolution of social change and development, (ii) the processes that influence social development, and (iii) the dynamics of human nature in change processes. These authors add that, "Leadership education is aimed at producing citizens for a democratic society" (p. 3).

             B. Continuing education. Many professions require continuing education credits to maintain credentialing and privileges for practice; for example, lawyers and healthcare practitioners must complete a set number of credit hours each year for this purpose. While all professions may not mandate it, the individual pursuit of continuing education in any field should be regarded as a sound business investment, just as the provision of such training by organizations makes good sense. Because of the importance of having effective leaders in any organizational setting, it is vitally important for them to remain cognizant of changes and innovations in their field, as well as in allied fields that may impact their industry. .

             Today is an excellent time to be a professional in search of continuing educational opportunities, though, because of the explosion in adult education classes designed for this purpose, particularly in online forums of various types. In this regard, Jarvis (2002) reports that, "Adult and continuing education is changing at a tremendously rapid rate in this contemporary, urban world," and the purposes for which adult leaders are seeking continuing education have changed in fundamental ways in recent years (p.