Success Stories

With artfulness and joy – not to mention extraordinary skill – Vicki Halsey led me to see how to get people to suspend skepticism, self-consciousness, even fear, in order to become learners as well as teachers of the identity discipline. The ‘secret sauce,’ I am convinced, is in how Vicki’s ENGAGE process validates the uniqueness of each participant, liberating them to discover their native brilliance and to help others do the same. Accomplishing this elusive goal is indeed Vicki Halsey’s brilliance, which through Brilliance by Design is now—thankfully—accessible to everyone.

Endorsed By: Larry Ackerman
Identity Is Destiny and The Identity Code , Identity Is Destiny and The
Identity Code

Finally, Vicki has put her knowledge, passion, experience, and magic into a book that will transform how you learn and how you teach. Whether you’re a corporate trainer or an educator, you owe it to yourself and your students to read Brilliance by Design and put the ENGAGE Model into practice. It’s not only being an expert in what you teach, but also understanding the impact of how you teach that can help you change the lives of those you serve. Brilliant, engaging and powerful.

How many boring lectures have we all attended, pretending to watch the speaker but completely tuned out? This never has to happen again. Astutely written, insightful, and utterly practical, Brilliance by Design reveals the secrets to optimizing adult learning processes. Drawing on her own experience as a world class educator and supported by research, Vicki Halsey clearly explains how to create and deliver exciting, top-notch educational experiences. Brilliance by Design is not another dull “how to” instructional design manual. Vicki writes using the very principles she is explaining—a recipe for a book that is inspiring and engaging. Once I began reading, I couldn’t put the book down. Brilliance by Design provides an easy-to-understand model illuminated by interesting stories and examples as well as lots of tips and practical tools. You will want to give it to your boss or anyone you know who makes presentations. If you want to engage and energize the people you lead or teach, this book is for you.

Amazing, useful, and so needed—this is the book the training world has been waiting for! Vicki’s passion for creating supremely effective training comes through in every word. This book is a must read for anyone who dares design a program to teach anyone anything.

Despite my numerous years of teaching, I find that Dr. Halsey's book brings a fresh perspective to my craft and a renewed enthusiasm to my students. A highly recommended read for new and veteran teachers alike!

As an academic scientist, making discoveries requires that I bring out the brilliance in my students. Brilliance By Design gives inspiring examples, specific instructions, and invaluable templates that will help me to more effectively teach and lead my students, whether in one-on-one situations or in large lecture halls.

I’ve had the good fortune to experience Vicki’s Brilliance Learning System directly, and I have brought it to WD-40 Company. When given a window into their own brilliance, your people will develop faster, learn more, and innovate at the highest level. Brilliance by Design will inspire everyone who reads it.

Brilliance by Design is a must for anyone who is responsible for helping others excel. The skills and concepts can be used to impact small groups or hundreds of participants. The book demonstrates how to engage your learners and achieve results that last.

This powerful book is a valuable tool for any business, political, or non-profit leader who wants to instigate and make sustained change. It reminds us that every leader is a teacher while providing the necessary tools to unleash brilliance in way that excites, inspires, and empowers our people. Brilliance by Design truly could be the difference between success and failure.

Brilliance By Design is brilliant. This book will inspire every educator to engage every learner.

In Brilliance by Design, Vicki Halsey offers leaders, managers, instructors, and teachers the tools needed to optimize any learning experience. As one of Vicki’s students in the MSEL program at the University of San Diego, I was able to personally experience the value of her approach to learning. When embraced, the concepts, models, and tools provided in this book will create a learning environment that will serve employees, drive change, and improve results in any organization.

Vicki is the most extraordinary, passionate teacher I have ever known. Her book puts theory into practice and will bring out the best in ALL of us. This is the most important book you will read as a teacher and learner...period!

Vicki Halsey’s Brilliance Learning System has been invaluable to me. As an adult learner, it was foundational to my completion of business school with all A’s; as a full-time business executive, it has enabled me to foster and develop a culture of learning within my organization; and as a part-time adult education instructor, it has made it possible for me to successfully ENGAGE all of my students. The Brilliance is in the design.

Vicki's passion, energy, experience, and wisdom, informed by years in the trenches, jump off every page. This inspiring and iconic book provides the keys to the kingdom and it comes at a perfect time. Public education struggles as the U.S. educational edge has become a fading memory; organizations search for new ways to cope with challenges that traditional strategies can’t touch; and individuals are frustrated by their inability to function in this new world, be they executives, managers, or frontline operators. The keys are simple and straightforward—the how-tos of tapping into each other's brilliance at a time in search of solutions. In every context, getting the best from others is about engaging them in a way that creates the connections to bring forth the best they have to offer. In simple terms, with personal and authoritative stories and examples, Brilliance by Design will show you how to do just that. Buy the book and apply the messages and methods. And do it now!

As a training and development specialist, I support an organization of over 4,000 employees with learning programs and change initiatives. I firmly believe this book is a definite “must have” for leaders, training professionals, or anyone who wants to maximize learning in his or her organization. I was particularly impressed with the practicality of the book. I was able to employ immediately many of the strategies in my training sessions. This resulted in a positive classroom climate, improved participant engagement, and noticeable changes in behavior after the session. This book will definitely be my primary training guide.

Vicki Halsey has given a gift to anyone who develops training or brings people together for the purpose of learning, problem solving, or innovating. Brilliance by Design presents a proven and powerful educational design strategy—a six-step process that shows how to structure and create a total learning experience that will drive outcomes and get people to commit to action. The concepts are simple and the rewards are infinite.

This book should be required reading for all school administrators and teachers! Vicki blows traditional teaching methods out of the water by exposing a new generation of educational strategies that focus on delivery to ensure content mastery. This book will help teachers bring out the Brilliance in every student and is packed full of practical resources that are easy to implement in any classroom. I will never look at teaching the same!

Vicki’s zest for teaching and bringing out the brilliance in others is absolutely addictive. After reading Brilliance by Design I felt like I had hit the jackpot at a slot machine—the concepts, tools and tips just kept coming! I know I will have to read it at least twice and maybe three times to make sure I’ve dog-eared all the right pages and captured everything I can out of it. Anyone who is interested in the brilliance of their learners MUST experience this book!

Dr. Halsey reminds us that what is learned is more important than what is taught, and that learning takes place in the heart and mind of the student, not the teacher. The greatest gift we can give others is to help them discover the gift within themselves, and there is no more powerful role we can play in the lives of those around us than to help them bring forth their own brilliance…whether it is with our families, friends, employees, or students.

This is not a book about training or teaching. It's about touching lives, creating lasting confidence, and igniting people's innate curiosity. If you are an educator, a consultant, a counselor, a parent, or if you simply care about the personal and professional development of another, this is a must read. You and those you touch will no doubt be better for it. Thank you, Vicki.

Start a learning revolution. Teach, learn and lead so people release their brilliance with Vicki’s models, stories and insights. If you want to inspire, ENGAGE, and connect to create powerful performance, Brilliance By Design is for you.

Leaders are learners who teach. If you want to expand your influence as a leader, learn from a rock star in the training community how to ENGAGE people. No fluff, no fantasy! Vicki Halsey delivers a powerful model that works. That's why companies all over the globe are using her approach. If your desire is to increase your ROI on training and create a culture where learning changes lives, Brilliance by Design is your blueprint.

Brilliance by Design is an extension of Vicki leading you through the learning experience. She takes her passion for teaching others and wraps it up in the ENGAGE Model to unleash the brilliance in all of us with learning that extends into the real world. Having had the privilege of learning from Vicki in the classroom, I am excited to bring her formula for successful teaching to our agency. Brilliant!

In Brilliance by Design, Vicki Halsey gives us clear templates, fascinating stories, and some radical shifts that fuel focus and performance. Vicki's innovative Brilliance Learning System will have you creating extraordinary learning events that result in greater excitement, application, and retention. You will never teach the same way again!

Brilliance by Design is...well...brilliant. If every instructional designer, trainer, and teacher in the business world and beyond followed Vicki Halsey’s principles, we’d all be leading richer lives filled with many more brilliant moments of our own.

Brilliance by Design is a brilliant! Written by a passionate and powerful professional, Vicki lets those attributes shine through in this book. Her passion for learning and the role of teaching is clear and contagious – the opening chapters read like a wonderful manifesto for the power of learning. And her professional prowess is clear too – in the ENGAGE design model. The book provides a practical model to help any trainer, teacher, instructor or coach be more successful in helping other create new skills and greater results. Own, read and dog ear this book – it will make you a better teacher and trainer immediately and for a long time to come.

Each person has a unique contribution to make to the world. Vicki’s is her passion and expertise in designing and delivering engaging, actionable learning experiences. As a facilitator, she delivers learner-centered experiences focused on bringing out the best in people. In Brilliance by Design, Vicki details the approach she has successfully deployed with her clients and students—sharing a wealth of practical tips, a model for learning, and key activities you can use to challenge thinking and promote learning. Creating learning experiences that connect, inspire, and engage is hard work. Brilliance by Design provides practical and logical support to enhance your impact and maximize your training investment.

Dr. Vicki Halsey has written an indispensable guide for becoming the best learner and teacher you can be! Fresh, engaging, and spirited, Brilliance by Design connects us all to our innate brilliance and shows us how to bring out the best in ourselves and in others. An emotionally satisfying, smart read.

Brilliance by Design is a must have for leaders, teachers and learning departments committed to bringing out the very best in people development, learning transfer and application. Vicki Halsey provides new ideas and models you can use immediately to change the game and improve organizational learning.

Fractal in nature, comprehensive in content, and truly brilliant in design! Vicki has done her magic again! Brilliance by Design relates stories of inspiring teachers who have had profound impact. The content unleashes the power of a highly collaborative relationship and explores in detail the Brilliance Learning System comprising People, Content, and Learning Design. The synergy of core principles and applied learning profoundly demonstrates and reinforces the celebration of learning.

An inspiring and practical book on how to craft meaningful and life-changing learning experiences. Whether you’re a university professor, a Kindergarten teacher, motivational speaker, or corporate trainer, you’ll find the ENGAGE multi-dimensional model provides tangible examples that will connect and inspire!

I’ve seen Vicki Halsey’s brilliance with students firsthand, so I clearly understand why she is one of the most effective teachers in the Executive MBA Program at Grand Canyon University. Participants have always raved about Vicki’s sessions. In this book she translates and explains what she does, making it accessible to all who teach. If you teach, you owe it to your students—and yourself—to read this book.

Vicki Halsey’s quest for finding the best ways possible to teach and inspire others is unmatched in the arena of adult learning. Her latest book, Brilliance by Design, is the culmination of all the best practices she knows in one easy, juicy, digestible resource. Forget the trite phrase “think outside the box”—this book will help you ignite inspired thinking in others, so desperately needed in today’s uncharted waters. Like Vicki herself, this book is a gift.

The time engaged as a student in Vicki’s Executive MBA course combined with the nuggets from this book have caused me to see my unique opportunity to be brilliant. Furthermore, the truths within this "manual for teaching" have caused me to see others’ opportunities to be brilliant. Chapter 5, Navigate Content, has changed my whole approach to leading and training others.

As a husband, father, teacher, coach, and leader, I can readily connect with the message Vicki conveys in her engaging book, Brilliance by Design. It's about knowing my own brilliance and caring for myself so that I can bring out the brilliance in others. A favorite proverb of mine is: The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out. That is what Vicki's book is about—drawing out of others the radiance, energy, and power that lies within them through stories, challenging conversations, and modeling of good behavior. I witnessed Vicki's own brilliance and watched her mine brilliance from others during my year in the Ken Blanchard Executive MBA Program at Grand Canyon University. As her former student, I'm excited to endorse Vicki’s book. She lives what's she's written, and knows better than anyone about the power of Creating Learning Experiences that Connect, Inspire, and Engage!

Vicki Halsey is Blanchard’s master learning “conductor.” The new frontier in learning is innovative design—and you are in for a treat! In Brilliance by Design Vicki turns learning on its head, bringing out the brilliance of the learner through her innovative design capabilities and matching how people learn with the best approach for each individual. Learners delight in themselves and their new insights and skills and quickly apply what they discover. This book is a treasure for all of us who want to “borrow” Vicki’s 30 years of innovative design experience!

To see Vicki facilitate a workshop is to see a master in her element—it’s a thing of high energy, optimism, and possibilities. I witnessed the transformative effect her approach had on participants at Save the Children. In her simple statement: "The one who is doing the talking is doing the learning" she has made explicit something I've always felt to be true in my own career in training: You don't truly know something until you try to teach it. To design workshops around this truth is a brilliant and real contribution to the learning industry.

Brilliance by Design engages the authentic voice of every learner to share in the dynamic possibilities of becoming a Servant Teacher. By rooting everyone's various learning modalities in acceptance from the start, she opens a safe place for people to be creative in an experiential way to master new learnings to memory. Her models are powerful and can be useful tools to anchor and shape your total experience of life! Whale done!

Jumping out of my skin was a meaningless phrase until I read this book twice to make sure I wasn't bewitched the first time. Now I can't wait for its publication so that the millions of leaders, educators, coaches, therapists-in fact, all of us in the business of growing people-have an opportunity to read. It's that essential, that important!

This book is filled with Aha moments! Whether you are a leader, speaker, teacher, coach or parent, it will help you radiate your brilliance in its revolutionary approach where the teacher learns and the learner teaches. Packed full of hundreds of creative ideas and insights, this is the first self-development book where treasures are revealed fully in easy-to-implement detail. Brilliance by Design is indeed brilliant, energizing, inspiring, and impossible to put down!

At some point in our lives, we will probably all play the role of teacher – whether it is as an executive leader, a parent, a mentor, a speaker, or a supervisor. And if we want to be great in that role, then Vicki Halsey’s book Brilliance By Design should be required reading. In it, the author – who has spent 35 years as a teacher and a creator of instructional design – revolutionizes the art of teaching. She leads us to the summit of true enlightenment and expertly shows us how to uncork the brilliance that lies in each and every person we deal with. Have no doubt, if you take the book’s messages to heart, real magic can happen.

Some of the greatest moments in life are “aha” moments, where we hear something in our heads and then imprint it onto our hearts. It’s one of those rare moments where the learning is life changing. I have had the opportunity to experience Vicki’s training techniques as both a participant and an observer. I watched her lead an amazing series of “ahas” for the San Diego Padres as we introduced our guest services program vision in 2003 to a staff of nearly 2000 employees. That training and follow-up implementation evolved into what is now one of the most talked about fan experiences anywhere in the world. Please pick up this book and read it—it is brilliantly written, easily understood, and a model for life-changing impact!