"Adult competence" and "productivity" can be viewed as interactive terms on the same continuum; as the definition of one term expands, so does the definition of the other. For example, while productivity may once have meant simply the efficient production of goods and services, it now encompasses a much vaster dimension, including such factors as respect for the environment, conservation of energy, and the development of the individual. To meet such productivity goals, adults need many more competencies than just job skills. This interaction has two principal implications for competency-based adult education: it fosters in the student the increasing capacity to learn (how to learn, not just learning what is being taught); competency-based adult educators have a responsibility to understand and support human competence in its broadest sense. These implications lead to the following two action steps that competency-based adult educators should take: (1) they should research, develop, and implement competency-based developmental education for all adults in order to encourage lifelong learning; and (2) competency-based adult educators should take leadership roles in a philosophical quest for the meaning of human and adult competency. These are challenges for the future of competency-based adult education. (KC)