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PART II: Thinking Skills

PART II: Thinking Skills

Video: Where Do We Even Start: The Steps to Solve a Case

Video: How to Read a Case the Right Way: Stop Wasting Time and Start Seeing What Matters

Video: How to Do Smart Case Research Pre-Competition, During the Case & Using AI Effectively

Video: How to Use AI Responsibly in Case Competitions: Don't Let It Replace Your Thinking

Tool: Where Do We Even Start Worksheet (Available for Purchase)

 "Winning teams don't simply know more frameworks. They think differently."

Frameworks are valuable. Financial models are important. Analytical tools matter, but none of them creates winning recommendations on their own. Every framework depends on the quality of the thinking behind it.

The strongest case-solving competitors develop habits of mind that allow them to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, recognise patterns, connect ideas, and make decisions under uncertainty. Those habits are skills.

Unlike memorising a framework, thinking skills transfer from one competition to the next, from one industry to another, and eventually into your professional career. All forms of thinking can use the Mad Skills Thinking Model but emphasise different stages within each.

Observe → Question → Connect → Decide → Reflect
  • Observe: What facts and patterns do you notice?
  • Question: What assumptions should be challenged?
  • Connect: How do the pieces fit together?
  • Decide: What is the best course of action, and why?
  • Reflect: What did you learn, and what would you do differently?

This section introduces the thinking skills that underpin every successful case solution. As you work through each chapter, remember one important principle:

Your recommendation can never be stronger than the thinking that produced it.it

PART II CLOSING: Five Thinking Skills. One Strategic Mindset.

The five skills in this section are different, but they work together.

  • Critical Thinking asks: Is our reasoning sound?
  • Strategic Thinking asks: Where should we go?
  • Systems Thinking asks: How are the pieces connected?
  • Analytical Thinking asks: What does the evidence tell us?
  • Creative Thinking asks: What else is possible?
  • Ethical Thinking asks: What should we do?
  • Decision Making Under Uncertainty asks:  How do we make the best choice when we don't know everything?

These are not separate skills; you use one at a time. They interact throughout the case-solving process.

  • You may use analytical thinking to understand the problem.
  • Systems thinking to understand its causes.
  • Creative thinking to generate alternatives.
  • Critical thinking to challenge them.
  • Ethical Thinking to understand their consequences.
  • Strategic Thinking to determine which direction creates the most Value.
  • Decision-making under uncertainty to choose a path forward despite incomplete information.

That is what expert case-solving looks like. It's not simply knowing more; it's thinking better.

The Mad Skills Thinking Cycle

Throughout your case-solving career, return to this cycle:

OBSERVE (What is happening?) à QUESTION (What should we challenge?) à CONNECT (How do the pieces interact?) à EXPLORE (What possibilities exist?) à EVALUATE (What does the evidence tell us?) à DECIDE (What should we do?) à ADAPT (What will we do if our assumptions change?)

ü  The framework is never the goal.

ü  The insight is never the end.

ü  The decision is what matters.

And the better you become at thinking, the better your decisions become. That is the foundation of your Discover Your Mad Skills toolkit.

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