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Leaders often find themselves encumbered by many challenges. Because of these hurdles, leaders may lose sight of their holistic wellbeing. Wellbeing is a combination of the quality and cumulative effects of work, life, health, relationships, and community. Leaders with higher levels of wellbeing are likely to be more effective, productive, and foster quality relationships with followers. This practice paper details a guided meditation methodology that creates a safe space for leaders to remove mental distractions, reflect on their current state of wellbeing, and develop increased levels of self-awareness. Results to date indicate learners have responded positively to the guided meditation process and have sustained the practice of introspection. Recommendations and implications are discussed.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

Planningof any kind can be motivated by a pressing practical problem which has to be solved—for example, an increasing number of people may have to be housed in the same area; or by a long‐term idealistic vision; or by both (the idealist seeing the long‐term implications of an immediate problem). In short‐term planning, the danger exists that the more technical problems may be solved, without attention to their implications for human beings; to take my housing example, higher and higher flats may be built, without considering the possible effects (e.g. the effect on social groupings). In long‐term planning, Utopian or ideological blueprints may be produced.

Theory suggests gender bias in leadership occurs through a cognitive mismatch between thoughts of women and leaders. As leadership incorporates more feminine qualities, gender bias disadvantaging women should be reduced. The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of that argument by examining gender bias in servant leadership. Predictions made by role congruity theory were investigated with principles from leader categorization theory.

In a survey design, 201 working college students from the Midwest USA were presented with either a female or male leader, each with identical servant leader attributes. Participants reported their expectations for the leader’s future behavior.

Expectations for servant leader behavior were greater for the woman than man leader, and expectations for authoritarian behavior were greater for the man than woman leader. Expectations for servant leader behavior were greater from the woman than man participants, and expectations for authoritarian behavior were greater from the man than woman participants, a difference that was enhanced by men’s hostile sexism.

Although limited by the sample of working students, important implications are the importance of using theoretical integration to examine contemporary forms of leadership for changing gender bias, considerations of self-concept in bias and examining perceiver characteristics when investigating gender bias.

Awareness of the reduction of gender bias in communal leadership may allow an increase of leadership opportunities for women and leadership attempts by women.

This is the first empirical examination of gender bias in communal leadership through theoretical integration.

The paper describes the method and the results of a pilot‐study on recreational effects of holidays. The objective of the study was to get first insights in the psychological process of recreation during holidays: E.g. How can recreation be measured? What kind of changes in the emotional state do occur during long term recreational processes? Do people perceive themselves as «recreated» during or after a holiday? A sample of 59 German teachers were asked to fill in psychological questionnaires before, during and after their summer holiday 1992. The questionnaires used measured different dimensions of personal condition (mood), individual effects of work load, and some data concerning organisational and motivational aspects of the holiday trip as well as sociodemographic data.