Top 9 Books from the 2018 Agent In Engagement Reading List - Part 1

One of the ways to stay current on employee engagement and employee experience topics is through reading books. In 2018, I completed 22 such books. Here is a link to the entire 2018 Agent In Engagement Reading List. From those books, I identified 9 employee engagement-related favorites. Rather than try to rank these selections, I’ll discuss them in the order in which they were read. In Part 1, we spotlighted the 5 favorite books from the first half of 2018. Below, in Part 2, we highlight the remaining 4 selections that were completed from July – December.



As I do each year, let me tout the benefits of using your local public library. This free and accessible public service is paid for, in part, by your tax dollars and offers a wealth of interesting and informative selections. If, by chance, the book you wish to read is not available through the library, please be environmentally responsible and purchase a used or digital version when available.



Explore the top Agent In Engagement selections from Part 1: July – December 2018



Measure What Matters - John Doerr

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs – John Doerr

Completion date: 10/20/2018

 “In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone’s goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization’s most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention.”1



Mind Gym: Achieve More by Thinking Differently - Sebastian Bailey and Octavius Black

Mind Gym: Achieve More by Thinking Differently – Sebastian Bailey and Octavius Black

Completion date: 12/18/2018


“We wrote this book with two goals in mind: to make the best, most rigorous research findings on the science of success and fulfillment accessible to everyone and to help you apply these insights so you can effect radical change in your life as quickly as possible.  Mind Gym will explain why you get trapped in negative thought patterns, why your relationships fail or succeed, why your conversations don’t turn out the way you expected them to, why you get stressed, and why you can’t get your creative juices flowing. But more important, Mind Gym will provide tools and exercises to help you change what you think and how you approach these challenges, so you can optimize your most powerful ally: your mind. When your mind it fit, you get more out of life, more out of work, more out of your relationships, more out of everything.”2



High Output Management

High Output Management – Andrew S. Grove 

Completion date: 12/26/2018




Former Intel CEO Andy Grove’s book, High Output Management, is a master class for managers. “This book contains three basic ideas. The first is an output-orientated approach to management. That is to say, we apply some of the principles and the discipline of the most output-oriented endeavors – manufacturing – to other forms of business enterprise.”3 “The second idea is that work of a business, of a government bureaucracy, of most forms of human activity, is something pursued not by individuals but by teams. This idea is summed up in what I regard as the single most important sentence in this book: The output of a manager is the output of the organizational units under his or her supervision or influence.”4 “A team will perform well only if peak performance is elicited from the individuals in it. This is the third idea of the book.”5



Mindset - The New Psychology of Success

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol S. Dweck 

Completion date: 12/31/2018




“In this book, you’ll learn how a simple belief about yourself – a belief we discovered in our research – guides a large part of your life. In fact, it permeates every part of your life. Much of what you think of as your personality actually grows out of this ‘mindset.’”6 “Believing that your qualities are carved in stone – the fixed mindset – creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.”7 “The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help form others.”8 The mindset you adopt is based on the situation. You can have a closed mindset in regard to some traits and an open mindset in regard to others.




What are your thoughts on these selections? What were your favorite books of 2018? Which books would you recommend?



Disclosure of Material Connection: The links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only reference products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”


1 “Measure What Matters by John Doerr | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books.” PenguinRandomhouse.com, Penguin Random House, www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/546304/measure-what-matters-by-john-doerr-foreword-by-larry-page/9780525536222/.

2 Bailey, Sebastian, and Octavius Black. Mind Gym: Achieve More by Thinking Differently. HarperOne, 2016, p. 2.

3 Grove, Andrew S. High Output Management. Vintage Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC, 2015, p. xv.

4 Ibid., p. xvi.

5 Ibid.

6 Dweck, Carol S. Mindset. Robinson, 2017, p. ix.

7 Ibid., p. 6.

8 Ibid., p. 7.




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