Welcome to Discover Your MAD Skills

Building the skills to think critically, solve business problems, and compete with confidence.

Welcome to Discover Your MAD Skills, a practical learning resource designed to help you become a stronger case solver. Developed from more than 20 years of coaching case-solving teams at regional, national, and international competitions, these resources bring together the processes, tools, thinking skills, and practical lessons that help competitors turn complex business challenges into clear, supported, and persuasive recommendations. The goal is not simply to help you solve a case. It is to help you understand what matters, think more critically, make better decisions, support your recommendations with evidence, and communicate your ideas with confidence.

How the Five Manuals Fit Together

Each manual focuses on a different aspect of case-solving, but are designed to work together as a connected learning system.

Manual 1 — The Case-Solving Process

Build a strong foundation. Learn how to decipher a case, identify the real problem, analyse the situation, develop alternatives, make a recommendation, plan implementation, and structure a winning solution.

Manual 2 — Presentation and Communication

Turn your thinking into a compelling argument. Develop your storytelling, slide design, executive communication, speaking, teamwork, and question-and-answer skills to communicate your recommendations persuasively.

Manual 3 — Case-Solving Toolkit: Frameworks, Analysis & Essential Skills

Strengthen your analytical judgment. Explore the frameworks, analytical approaches, and thinking skills that help you understand a business, uncover meaningful insights, and make sense of complex situations. Learn to choose the right tool for the question rather than applying frameworks simply because they are available.

Manual 4 — Case Finances & Excel Mastery

Make the numbers meaningful. Develop your ability to interpret financial statements, assess performance, compare alternatives, build financial models, evaluate investments, and use Excel to turn data into insights that support better decisions.

Manual 5 — Special Topics

Expand your perspective. Explore additional challenges and advanced considerations that influence business analysis and decision-making, including complex trade-offs, ethical questions, and other topics that require you to look beyond the obvious.

Together, the five manuals support a complete approach to case-solving: Decipher → Analyse → Develop → Recommend → Deliver. The process provides a foundation. The tools strengthen your analysis. Your judgment connects the pieces. Your recommendation brings them together. And your presentation makes the case for action.

How to Use These Resources

You do not need to read every manual from beginning to end before competing. Use the resources to build your foundation, address specific learning needs, and prepare for the challenges you encounter in practice.

Start with Manuals 1 and 2 to develop your case-solving and presentation fundamentals.
Use Manual 3 when you need to deepen your analysis, sharpen your thinking, or determine which framework or tool will help answer a particular question.
Turn to Manual 4 when financial performance, quantitative analysis, Excel modelling, or investment decisions are central to your case.
Explore Manual 5 when you encounter specialised issues, unfamiliar challenges, or decisions that require additional perspectives.

As you progress, revisit the manuals, work through the exercises and checklists, and apply the concepts to practice cases. Use coaching sessions, feedback, and competition experiences to identify what you are doing well and where you can improve. You do not develop these skills by reading alone. You develop them by applying what you learn, making decisions under pressure, reflecting on the results, and trying again.

A MAD Skills Principles to Keep in Mind

Frameworks are thinking tools, not answers. The goal is not to use every available framework; it is to understand the situation, ask pertinent questions, and select frameworks that enable meaningful insights.

Analysis must lead to a decision. Facts, calculations, and frameworks matter when they help explain what is happening, why it matters, and what the business should do about it.

A strong recommendation must be more than a good idea. It needs evidence, financial and operational realism, feasibility, and a clear understanding of risks and expected results.

Confidence comes through experience. You will not always have the perfect answer or feel completely prepared. Practice helps you work through uncertainty, defend your thinking, respond to challenges, and recover when things don't go as planned.

Your WXP Learning Journey

The WXP case competitions allow you to put these ideas into practice. The learning resources provide a foundation. Training sessions help you get started, and practice, coaching, teamwork, and competition will help you develop your capabilities. Approach each case as a learning opportunity. Focus not only on whether your team wins, but also on the quality of your thinking, decisions, collaboration, and ability to learn from feedback. The objective is continuous improvement: becoming better at understanding business problems, identifying what matters, making sound decisions, and persuading others to act.

Think more clearly. Analyse more effectively. Decide more confidently. Communicate more persuasively. Welcome to the journey. It's time to discover your MAD Skills.