With the unofficial start to summer upon us, I know many Washingtonians are in search of a good read. Even if you prefer The Hunger Games to the latest management tome, summer is the perfect time for federal leaders to check out some books that offer new leadership ideas, tools or techniques.

A number of top administration officials, starting with President Obama, took the opportunity this week — Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) — to recognize the value of government employees and praise them for their service.

It’s especially important this year to recognize your employees given the current climate — morale is down because of the recent government scandals and congressional efforts to cut employee compensation.

I’ve got some good and bad news for federal leaders.

On a positive note, federal employees’ views of their leaders have been on the upswing since 2003 based on an analysis of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings.

A new report, “Mission-Driven Mobility,” by my organization, the Partnership for Public Service, and McKinsey & Company examines the benefits of mobility within the Senior Executive Service (SES) — the elite corps of civil servants charged with overseeing and operating nearly every government activity in about 75 federal agencies.

I received many responses to my “Bullying at work” column, including some excellent advice on how to put an end to workplace bulling. Here’s what one reader had to say.

“The optimal solution is a cultural one within the organization and the society. We have to find a way to say that workplace bullying is simply not acceptable. Often employers deny that bullying is going on in their organization despite evidence to the contrary…           

Unfortunately, some bullies don’t grow up, they just grow older.

This is one of the questions that my organization, the Partnership for Public Service, set out to answer in Gender Gaps and Racial/Ethnic Divides , a new Best Places to Work in the Federal Government analysis, based on data from the Office of Personnel Management's 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

Working with the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), my organization – the Partnership for Public Service – analyzed a survey of more than 35,000 students from nearly 600 colleges and universities, asking about everything from their expectations about their first job to whether they would consider a career in public service. The results were troubling.