What subfield of psychology focuses on topics like well-being, flourishing, and flow?

Positive Psychology Applied to Body Image

Positive psychology and the characteristics of flourishing can be applied to body image conceptualization and treatment. Per tenets of positive psychology, positive body image should not be thought of as equivalent to low negative body image. Yet, scholars sometimes erroneously conclude that low body dissatisfaction or low body preoccupation automatically reflects positive body image. Research shows that positive body image is much more complex. Body appreciation, an important facet of positive body image, is uniquely associated with well-being, even after controlling for negative body image. Therefore, in the body image literature, we cannot take all findings on negative body image and conclude that the opposite applies for positive body image. In treatment, working to deconstruct clients’ negative body image will not automatically construct positive body image.

Under a pathology-driven therapy paradigm, therapists work with clients to help them alleviate and ultimately remove their symptoms of body image disturbance. However, according to proponents of positive psychology, simply removing clients’ symptoms of body image disturbance would create languishing at best – not having a disturbed body image but not appreciating, celebrating, or honoring it either. Languishing has implications for self-care; if individuals largely ignore their body – not hating it but also not loving it – they may miss signs of medical distress, such as lumps, skin growths, and irregularities. People who are attentive toward their body and hold it in high regard may be more likely to perform regular self-detection checks. It may also have implications for well-being; individuals who ignore their body may not appreciate the various functions it performs for them.

Under a positive psychology paradigm, therapists would help clients remove their symptoms of body image disturbance and replace them with a positive body schema. Features of positive body image, as well as interventions to promote them, would be emphasized and incorporated in treatment to help clients gain a picture of what having a positive body image consists of and feels like.

Next, known features of positive body image are articulated and discussed. These features were identified via qualitative research on college women and adolescent girls and boys who hold a positive body image. Quantitative studies investigating many of these features have begun, and their findings have supported the connection of these characteristics to well-being.

Positive Psychology

A particular concern of positive psychology is overcoming the negative perspective in psychological research, theory, and practice. Similar proposals were initially formulated in the early 1950s. Positive psychology and resilience therefore have common roots (see McElwee, 2007). Since the beginning of this millennium, ‘positive psychology’ is understood as ‘the scientific study of what goes right in life’ (Peterson, 2009: 3). Thus, topics of interest include character strengths, happiness, courage, mindfulness, humor, confidence, and optimism. In addition to such individual character attributes, strengths of families, groups and teams, organizations, communities, and societies are examined (Brendtro and Steinebach, 2012; Steinebach, 2012). The strengths addressed in the theories and models of resilience are seen as protective factors that are features of the person or their environment (e.g., Smith et al., 2013). On the other hand, these strengths are considered criteria for successful adaptation and coping with stress, crises, and traumas. Accordingly “the study of resilience … [has] overturned many negative assumptions in deficit-focused models” (Goldstein and Brooks, 2013: 6). However, following Luthar (2006), we must point out several significant differences between positive psychology and ‘resilience’: (1) In addition to the positive factors of behavior and experience, resilience takes into account difficulties and risk factors. Resilience is evident only in dealing with stress. (2) The sustainable development of resistance is revealed only over the course of an individual's development. For this reason, development over the whole life span must be observed. (3) Resilience is developed, implemented, and promoted in a complex interchange of environmental, cognitive-emotional, and biophysiological processes. The biological basis of this process has, to date, been insufficiently accounted for in positive psychology. (4) Positive psychology does not examine negative aspects of development; however, the concept of resilience does address these aspects (Ungar and Lerner, 2008). Increasingly, it becomes clear that while wishing to emphasize strengths, as demanded by positive psychology, negative aspects of individual characteristics and the environment must also be taken into account. When integrating strengths into such an approach, as promoted by positive psychology, negative aspects of the individual and their environment must also be considered to reflect the complexity of human experience and behavior. This is particularly true because after an event, whether a personality trait or an environmental factor was positive or negative and whether the resilient coping with stress will endure are only revealed over time. Finally, we cannot assume that gains in resilience will be lifelong (Rutter, 2006).

Causal Ordering of Self-Concept and Achievement: The Reciprocal Effects Model

Numerous studies have demonstrated a substantial positive correlation between academic self-concept and achievement (e.g., Marsh et al., 2006b,e). However, until recently, the causal ordering of this relation was less certain. However, this relation leaves unanswered the question of whether prior ratings of self-concept affect academic achievement, or whether academic achievement contributes to self-concept. This question is particularly important due to the theoretical and practical implications of the causal direction between these two variables. Essentially, knowing the causal ordering of self-concept and achievement is critical in determining the teaching practices that are most effective in enhancing student educational outcomes. Furthermore, answering the issue of causality is theoretically important in that much of the interest shown in self-concept stems from the belief that academic self-concept has motivational properties that contribute to achievement (Byrne, 1984).

Calysn and Kenny (1997) highlighted two opposing models relating to the causal ordering of self-concept and achievement: the self-enhancement and skill development models. The self-enhancement model posits that self-concept is a primary determinant of academic achievement and argues that interventions aiming to improve self-concept are critical in the attainment of academic success. In contrast, the skill development model argues that academic self-concept forms as a result of previous academic achievement. Thus, improving academic skills is seen as central to the enhancement of self-concept.

Until recent advances in statistical analyses, clarifying the issue of causal ordering between self-concept and academic achievement was problematic. However, the introduction of structural equation modeling into self-concept research reduced previous limitations, allowing researchers to investigate models that were theoretically and statistically more complex than the either–or arguments presented by self-enhancement and skill development models (see Marsh, 1990a; Marsh et al., 1999; Marsh and Martin, 2011). As a result of these advances, Marsh (1990a) proposed the reciprocal effects model (REM; see Figure 1) of academic self-concept. This model argued that the causal ordering of self-concept and achievement was not unidirectional. Instead, Marsh's model hypothesized a reciprocal relation between increases in self-concept and improvements in performance.

To test this model, Marsh (1990a) analyzed the large, nationally representative, US Youth in Transition Study. By analyzing the latent constructs of academic ability, academic self-concept, and school grades across a series of time waves, Marsh found support for a model where self-concept and achievement were reciprocally related. Marsh's study was important as it was one of the first studies that provided methodologically strong evidence for an REM, by demonstrating statistically significant pathways from prior self-concept to later achievement, and vice versa.

Cross-cultural research can inform us whether or not theories can be universally applied (Schwartz and Bilsky, 1990). Hence, the REM has been further bolstered by studies demonstrating good cross-cultural generalizability. Support for the REM in studies has come from different countries, for example, Hong Kong (Marsh et al., 2002b), Belgium (Pinxten et al., 2014), Germany (Marsh et al., 2001a, 2005b), and Canada (Guay et al., 2003).

Further strengthening the claims of the REM, evidence for reciprocal relations between self-concept and performance has been found outside the classroom. Marsh et al. (2006c) demonstrated the REM in a study investigating the causal ordering of physical self-concept and exercise behavior. Furthermore, Marsh et al. (2006a) tested the reciprocal effects, self-enhancement, and skill development models in relation to the physical self-concept and performance of gymnasts, and again found support for an REM of self-concept and performance. These findings are further supported by Marsh and Perry's (2005) study of self-concept and performance in a sample of elite swimmers in which prior self-concept was a significant positive predictor of subsequent championship performance.

Personality and Resilience

In tune with current interest in ‘positive psychology,’ personality researchers are increasingly interested in the qualities that support personal growth and success in challenging or adverse environments. If we can delineate generally effective coping strategies, perhaps we can also identify effective copers. Resilience is seen as an important, general aspect of personality that moderates the impact of stressors (Skodol, 2010). In a sense, resilience is close to being tautological with coping effectiveness. Personality scales for qualities such as hardiness, toughness, grit, and sense of coherence may capture some general coping ability distinct from any specific coping style or preference. For example, the US military aims to train resilience to enhance combat effectiveness and to reduce vulnerability to traumatic stress. Skodol (2010) cites several longitudinal studies that suggest that traits for resilience are associated with greater long-term well-being following various negative or challenging life events, including childhood abuse, abortion, and cancer surgery. For example, sense of coherence may impact upon the traumatic memories of holocaust survivors and is related to well-being in late life. However, the extent to which personality effects on outcomes are mediated by coping varies from study to study.

There are several barriers to conceptualizing personality in terms of dispositional resilience. First, it is unclear whether traits for resilience are psychometrically distinct from broader constructs such as emotional stability (low N, and the related concept of core self-evaluations; see Elliott et al., 2013). In fact, some have perceived hardiness as a combination of low N and high E. As such, hardiness may simply be a different label for the same underlying traits. Second, it is often difficult to establish reliable moderator effects in research (Matthews et al., 2009). The assumption is that resilience becomes evident only in demanding, potentially stressful environments, in line with the saying that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Thus, stress outcomes should reflect an interaction between trait resilience and environmental stress. In some studies, though, individuals high in resilience exhibit higher well-being regardless of external pressures, so that personality and external stressors have additive effects, contrary to the moderator hypothesis. Third, there remains uncertainty over the extent to which resilience should be conceptualized as a preexisting personality characteristic that emerges when the going gets tough, or whether resilience is better characterized as an ongoing process of adjustment.

In sum, resilience is a promising new construct in stress research that may be associated with personality. However, substantial questions remain about the conceptualization of resilience and the extent to which the construct offers anything novel to personality and coping researchers. Another construct that is related to general emotional adaptation is EI, which we will cover in more detail subsequently.

The Significance of Happiness

In sum, questions of happiness predominate today’s positive psychology, in part because happiness has been implicated in (and by some equated with) growth and wellness; because happiness appears to have both genetic and experience-dependent determinants; because happiness so saliently varies from moment to moment within this overall stability; and because there is debate about what type of happiness-related actions, if any, foster wellness.

In this chapter we discuss these questions about happiness through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000). SDT is an empirically driven, contemporary theory that directly speaks to all these issues, seeing happiness (i.e., positive affect) as an organismic signal that fluctuates strongly with need-supportive and need-thwarting contexts. Yet given its signal function, SDT does not view happiness as an end in itself, but rather as an informational input to fuller functioning. That is, SDT does not posit happiness as an organismic ideal—rather the ideal within SDT is a fully functioning, mentally well individual. Wellness in SDT’s view is about being authentically in touch with one’s surroundings and inward states, experiencing congruency rather than merely positive affect, and being able to use emotional inputs to volitionally regulate reactions and subsequent behavior. At the same time, SDT predicts that certain activities and lifestyles, particularly those associated with eudaimonic living, supply the most reliable paths to happiness and positive affect, and further suggests that not all culturally rewarded or valued endeavors can accomplish that aim. In what follows we detail these formulations and their relevance to happiness.

Importance of Multidimensionality and Positive Psychology

With respect to the debate on the significance of self-concept in positive psychology, the importance of considering the multidimensional characteristic of self-concept again becomes apparent. In particular, the recent emphasis on positive psychology has tended to advocate that positive self-belief or self-evaluations are desirable for maximizing life outcomes. In their reviews, Baumeister et al. (2003, 2005) originally seemed to question whether high self-esteem really leads to better performance, happiness, or a healthier lifestyle, concluding that “[positive] self-esteem per se is not the social panacea that many people hoped it was” (2003: p. 38) and that “efforts to boost people's self-esteem are of little value in fostering academic achievement or preventing undesirable behavior” (2005: p. 84). However, in refuting these inferences, Marsh and Scalas (2010; see also Marsh and Craven, 2006) pointed out that Baumeister et al.'s (2003, 2005) conclusions “were based largely on research studies, statistical methodology, and theoretical conceptualizations of self-concept that are no longer current” (p. 665).

Baumeister et al. (2003, 2005) concentrated on self-esteem and self-concept from a unidimensional perspective, whereas Marsh and Craven (2006) drew on more recent research on an explicitly multidimensional model of self-concept to demonstrate convincingly the benefits of positive academic self-concept. Similarly, in their reanalysis of the US nationally representative Youth in Transition database (five waves of data that span 8 years from Year 10), Marsh and O'Mara (2008) showed strong positive reciprocal effects between academic self-concept and grade point average (GPA). They also showed that besides prior achievement, academic self-concept is the best predictor of long-term educational attainment. This finding contrasted with the earlier analyses by Baumeister et al. (2003, 2005), who found weak and inconsistent relations between global self-concept and achievement. In summary, strong empirical evidence supports the notion that academic self-concept, when taken as a multidimensional construct, positively influences subsequent achievement after controlling for the effects of prior achievement.

From Illness Models to Wellness Models of Human Nature

The pathognomonic theories of personality that proliferated in nineteenth-century psychiatry began to yield to powerful currents of positive psychology following World War I. The modern origins of wellness models of human nature are arguably anchored in the work of Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler, a team that developed Gestalt psychology – and provided a rich perspective on the individuality of each person. An influential book Holism and Evolution, written by Jan Christiaan Smuts, a South African naturalist, soldier, politician, and philosopher, appeared in 1926 and enriched this perspective. Positive psychology was given further impetus by Alfred Adler's educational reforms and his principle that mental health depended in large part on living in sanitized communities. A former member of Freud's Wednesday Psychoanalytic Society from which he was dismissed, Adler is often mistakenly thought by the popular press to have been a Freudian. Teleologist and contrarian that he was, he averred that probing a patient's personal history was less important than planning his or her future. He rejected the pessimism, pansexualism, and determinism of Freud, affirming that humans have only one drive: self-actualization.

The groundswell of positive psychology that was launched by these pioneers and advanced by Henry Murray, B.F. Skinner (an eminent behaviorist), Gordon Allport (among the first factor analysts), Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and many others, is now being furthered by such notables as Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Conclusions

We have described different approaches to design technologies that support psychological well-being. These are grounded on different positive psychology theories, some of which have been reviewed. They can also be driven by the values and motivation of the designers, and their disciplinary background.

We used Calvo and Peter’s (Calvo and Peters, 2014) framework to classify different ways for bringing well-being considerations into interaction design. Psychologists seem to be more inclined to use technology as a platform for supporting and sustaining the process of change (positive technology). Engineers instead look for ways of considering well-being in the design of any technology either as preventative or active integration.

This chapter is a collaboration between designers, engineers, and psychologists. Collaborations, such as this can be hard as each of us brings a different perspective. We hope that other multidisciplinary teams will find this framework useful to improve communication and outcomes.

Flow Theory

Over the past decade, vocational psychology has increasingly integrated the insights and perspectives from what has become known as positive psychology. One of the foundational theories of this subfield is flow theory. Csikszentmihalyi (1985) describes flow as “The holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement” (p. 36). The state of flow is most easily achieved when an activity presents a match of high skill and high challenge (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Beyond fostering contemporaneous engagement in an activity, flow is critical to interest formation because flow represents a positive experience and students will likely repeat activities in which they have previously experienced flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). Csikszentmihalyi and Massimini (1985) posit that the psychic rewards of a flow experience (e.g., an increased level of enjoyment, self-esteem, sense of control) will encourage the student to seek to repeat flow experiences by finding similar opportunities; thus flow, like task value expectancy theory, provides positive feedback that encourages the individuals to continue studying academic subjects that initially engaged them.

Flow represents a theoretical framework that informs not simply the ‘in-the-moment’ engagement, but also provides insight into how the accumulation of experiences contributes to interest formation over time. In other words, the theoretical framework of flow provides a lens into understanding both how educational experience shapes the formation of intrinsic interests as well as what determines task satisfaction in the present. This dual explanatory power of flow occurs because the essence of the flow experience is the individual's enjoyment of intrinsic rewards simply from undertaking the activity itself (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), which is perceived as more effective at fostering learning than various forms of extrinsic motivation (Deci and Ryan, 1985). Recent research confirms that intrinsic motivation is positively associated with ‘deep learning,’ while extrinsic motivation is associated with ‘surface learning’ (Moneta and Spada, 2009). For this reason, flow theory provides a useful lens into student engagement within an educational setting (e.g., Shernoff et al., 2003), as well as engagement in work settings (e.g., Eisenberger et al., 2005; Sexton, 2005).

Because flow is necessarily a subjective experience, the quantitative measurement of flow has evolved over time. Moneta (2012) provides a comprehensive historical overview of how methodologies to measure flow developed in the literature over the preceding decades as investigation into flow has advanced from primarily qualitative modes of inquiry to quantitative. In addition, this piece provides an introduction to the most common instrument used in quantitative flow research: the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). The ESM involves repeatedly assessing individuals with a questionnaire over a period of time in order to contemporaneously record subjective experiences as well as contextual factors. Flow is achieved when two subjective preconditions are satisfied: high skill and high challenge. The ESM utilizes question stems such as “Indicate how you feel about the main activity” and then presents a nine-point Likert scale to indicate ‘challenge of the activity’ and ‘your skills in the activity’ in order to ascertain the activity's relative skill and challenge as perceived by the respondent. The ESM also typically includes additional questions such as “Was this activity interesting?”, “How well were you concentrating?”, “Did you feel like you were in control of the situation?”, and “Were you living up to your expectations?” The responses to these questions are used to assess the quality of other subjective states with which flow is positively associated. Empirical studies of the occurrence of flow in educational settings consistently show that flow is associated with the expected correlates, including sense of control, high concentration, and living up to the expectations of oneself and others (e.g., Shernoff et al., 2003). Hektner et al. (2007) provide a detailed explanation of the design and implementation of ESM studies as well as a comprehensive presentation of technical issues related to measuring flow.

Just as a student naturally gravitates toward academic subjects and tasks that offer a higher propensity for experiencing flow, the flow theory predicts that a worker will be most engaged when partaking in occupational tasks that match both high skill and high challenge. Adults who work fulltime are more likely to experience flow during work activities rather than leisure activities and this finding holds across a wide range of occupational levels and professions (Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre, 1989; Delle Fave and Massimini, 2005; Sartori et al., 2009). Flow is more readily achieved at work than at leisure. Studies consistently find that flow is not associated with elevated levels of enjoyment and excitement observed in studies of recreational activities. This finding is often referred to as the work paradox (Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre, 1989; Csikszentmihalyi, 1997; Hektner et al., 2007). A number of hypotheses to explain this unexpected finding have been put forth. For example, it has been observed that work tasks center around obligations rather than activities of one's choosing and the loss of sense of control may prevent a worker from experiencing flow (Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre, 1989). In addition, it is also possible that workers often possess a below average interest in the activity, which interferes with the opportunity to achieve flow despite a task's presentation of high skill and high challenge (Haworth and Hill, 1992). Finally, psychologists of happiness have simply noted that while goals are integral to completing work, they also are often negatively associated with happiness (Rheinberg et al., 2007). For a more comprehensive summary of the literature examining the work paradox phenomenon see, Della Fave et al. (2011).

Other recent flow research indicates that flow is sensitive to contextual or situational factors rather than dispositional. For example, Fullagar and Kelloway (2009) used a hierarchical linear model (Raudenbush and Bryk, 2002) analysis of data from an ESM study to show that about two-thirds of the variance in flow experiences is due to situational factors rather than some personal characteristic or disposition. In addition, by analyzing lagged data they found that flow was predictive of mood, but that mood was not predictive of flow. This distinction is important for vocational psychologists in that it suggests that making workers happier probably will not make them more engaged; rather, more engaged workers tend to be happier (among other positive affective states that an employer would prefer). Similarly, Nielsen and Cleal (2010) found that relatively stable aspects or characteristics of different jobs are not as strong predictors of flow as contextual or situational factors. Demerouti (2006) demonstrates that job characteristics could be predictors of flow as well as performance, but only for conscientious workers, which suggests that an individual's relative conscientiousness may be a moderator for the experience of flow.

The theoretical framework of flow has been applied to test the hypotheses advanced by Kohn and Schooler (1982) that there is a strong relationship with a worker's satisfaction with tasks during the workday and the emotional states that they experience at home. Specifically, the construct of flow has been utilized to test the hypothesis that characteristics of work tasks such as autonomy and intellectual challenge strongly influence the subsequent emotional experiences of the worker at both work and home. This finding corresponds to flow theory in that engagement is determined by a match between high skill and high challenge which is positively associated with subjective states such as a sense of control, interest in the activity, and enjoyment (Sexton, 2005). A key distinction in work tasks is made between primary work activities and secondary work activities, where the worker generally prefers the former to the latter. For the most part, workers seek to maximize the time they spend engaged in their primary activity – while minimizing the time spent engaged in less preferred activities, a condition one could identify as indicative of task value expectancy theory.

Among some social psychologists today, it appears that vocational preferences and values are regarded as less about the personality traits of the individual and more about the individual's experiences and the values he or she attaches to those experiences. It is the repetition and value of experiences, influenced in part by social contexts of the family, peer group, and others that determines career interest, motivation, and expectancy.

Emerging Trends in Leadership Education

Recent research and theory from psychology, neuroscience, organizational behavior, and corporate social responsibility are currently influencing trends in leadership education. The positive psychology movement and strength-based approaches to leadership have been emerging and exerting an influence on the practice of leadership education. In contrast to the ‘disease model of human nature’ that had dominated the last century of theory and practice within psychology, positive psychology seeks to understand what allows people to flourish and thrive. The role of positive emotions on learning, developing, and relationship building also represents a contribution of this emerging area to leadership education. An example of this can be seen in Fredrickson's (2001) broaden-and-build theory, which assumes that a key function of positive emotions is to encourage the broadening and building of social networks and open people to the possibility of developing new skills. According to Fredrickson, positive affective states could provide leaders with more positive psychological resources that they can draw on to support development. A trend to focus on a leader's current strengths and how these might be leveraged and used to overcome or compensate for weaknesses provides a different lens through which to view leadership development.

Theory related to EI has also begun to exert an influence in leadership theory and education. EI has been defined by Mayer et al. (2004) as “… the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions to enhance thinking as well as abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.” Building on this definition and linking EI to a theory of work performance, Boyatzis (2009) defined a behavioral approach to EI as “… an ability to recognize, understand, and use emotional information about oneself that leads to or causes effective or superior performance.” Given that emotions are a critical factor in creating and sustaining motivation that makes the intelligent use of emotions an important leadership task. Competency in the area of empathy and emotional management should help leaders develop and communicate their visions and help them establish an emotional bond with followers. Moreover, the intelligent use of emotions also seems important to allow leaders to cope with the potentially distressing emotions associated with personal change, as well as permitting the leader to stay open to and learn from the emotional experiences inherent in more experiential methods of leadership development.

Emotion-related processes have historically been absent from most theories and models of leadership. The integration of emotional processes into leadership and management theory has provided a more complete picture of how leaders go about motivating and engaging those around them. Key findings from affective neuroscience have also begun to influence theory and practice related to leadership development. How leaders affect the emotions of followers and how emotional process works to build rapport and resonant relationships with followers is being informed by neuroscience. The concept of resonance has its neurophysiological underpinnings in neurons in the brain referred to as mirror cells (Rizzolatti et al., 2001). These cells are widely dispersed in areas of the brain and lead us to mimic and mirror the feelings and behaviors of others. The process of emotional contagion, characterized as processes that allow the sharing or transferring of emotions from one individual to another, often occurs without conscious knowledge (Barsade and Gibson, 2010). Research on leaders and emotional contagion has found the leader's positive mood, had a subsequent influence on group coordination and effort (Sy et al., 2005). Neurological research has also begun to understand the dynamic neurological underpinnings of concepts such as transformational leadership mechanisms that may underpin the leadership qualities of individuals (Balthazard et al., 2012). Moral reasoning and decision making has become an interesting area for affective neuroscience. Though research on neuroscience and leadership is in the early stages, this research could potentially see neurological assessment used to compliment more traditional leadership assessment for use in leadership development.

E-leadership and virtual teams is also emerging as an important issue for both research and practice related to leadership as the nature of virtual work teams continues to expand and evolve. Survey research has shown that areas that tend to be addressed related to the leadership of virtual teams includes leading virtual team meetings, coaching and mentoring team members virtually, developing trust in a virtual environment, as well as how to monitor performance and deal with performance issues virtually (Rosen et al., 2006; Malhotra et al., 2007). While research is increasing in this area, few program evaluation studies on the effects of specific training content or methodologies have been conducted. However, research has shown that virtual teams that perceived themselves to have more of a shared leadership model, vs a more traditional hierarchical model, had higher levels of performance (Hoch and Kozlowski, 2012). As technology continues to advance and globalization continues, it is likely that leading virtual teams will become even more relevant for leaders in the future.

The topic of leadership and leadership education will continue to hold the attention of both scholars and the general public for the foreseeable future. Determining the conditions and practices that must exist to meaningfully enhance leadership capability should continue to drive research on leadership education. What is certain is that that the landscape in which leaders operate will continue to change, yet the need for leaders to effectively motivate and inspire others will not.