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Welcome to 2026. When I was teaching, the new year marked the start of 4 months of heavy travel as I travelled with my case-solving teams. There was a pattern in this travel that started in Canada, moved to the US, and finished in Europe. Why have I started wi...

In the last episode, I talked about the missing piece in education: real confidence isn’t built through exposure, it’s built through uncomfortable experience. This week, let’s get practical. How do we design practice environments that don’t just teach skills,...

https://www.patreon.com/cw/DiscoverYourMadSkills Season 1 Episode 1: How to Get Started with a Solution - So What? May 31, 2024: As a case-solving coach, I had the opportunity to attend the Global Circularity Cha... https://www.patreon.com/posts/143436019?...

Before submitting your presentation, work through the following. Resource: PDF Version Available for Purchase Decipher Do we understand what the case is really asking? Have we identified the central problem? Have we separated symptoms from root causes? ...

Resource: PDF Version Available for Purchase Decipher Do we understand the audience? Do we understand the decision? Do we understand the case characteristics? Do we know what the judges need to believe? Have we decided what does not need to be communic...

https://www.youtube.com/@MadSkillsMasterclass Introduction 1:53 Ignite Your Mad Skills From Case Flops to Podium Domination That’s not failure. That’s your wake-up call. I’m Cam Welsh, Emeritus Professor at Haskayne School of Business. For 20+ years, I’ve ...

"Time doesn't create clarity. Strategic choices do." Over the past few weeks, I've been working with a team preparing for the Sydney International Business Competition. It's a demanding competition. Teams tackle two cases: A 6-hour case culminating in a...

A few weeks ago, Anna Mykheieva made some great points about the use of personas, and it got me thinking about how teams use this tool in case-solving competitions. When I watch teams work through cases, I see personas used frequently. The problem? Most pers...

The real value of case competitions is not the case. It's the person you become through the process. In a recent conversation with a former case team member for an upcoming episode of Unbarred Conversations Season 2 (coming this fall), Chloe and I talked abou...

The biggest reward I get as a case-solving coach isn’t when a student finally cracks a complex profitability case or delivers a flawless recommendation. It’s when I watch them transform. When the nervous, hesitant version of themselves is replaced by someone w...

In recent weeks, my professional feeds have been filled with thoughtful conversations about the need for meaningful change in post-secondary education. Rob Lawless recently posed a provocative question about whether the University of Pennsylvania should offer ...

The best teams deliver a unified, high-energy, emotionally connected performance. Most teams don’t. Here’s exactly why and how to build consistency from minute one in the resolution room. One of the clearest, most frustrating patterns I’ve observed after 20...

Too many teams deliver a great solution but leave the real impact in the resolution room. Here’s what actually separates podium teams from the rest. One of the most consistent patterns I see after 20+ years of coaching case-solving competition teams and debri...

Over the years of coaching teams for case-solving competitions, if you asked any of my team members what the number one piece of advice I gave them, it would likely be this: "Don't boil the ocean." Too often, ambitious and talented teams try to do everything....

Two of the best skills you pick up from case competitions aren't solving the actual case. They're public speaking and networking. Back in 2019, my team and I were in Rotterdam, Netherlands, competing at Erasmus University. After the opening ceremonies, we sto...

March 18, 2026 Sebastian Tsang recently dropped a raw, eye-opening post on LinkedIn that should hit hard: for students, despite rocking a perfect 4.0 GPA and grinding hard, no parties, all focus, he got zero internship interviews for two straight year...

March 4, 2026 After 20+ years coaching and mentoring over 300 case teams at the University of Calgary and the Haskayne School of Business (plus dozens more through events like How to Change the World, Innovatank's WXP, and classroom advising), I still...

February 18, 2026 If we want AI-resilient graduates, we can’t just talk about disruption. We have to train for it. Back on February 7th, I had the privilege of judging the preliminary round of the Digital Innovation Challenge hosted by the Haskayne Scho...

This past week, I had the privilege of mentoring and judging WXP Europe. This virtual competition brings together MBA students from top universities across North America and Europe to tackle a messy, real-world problem. I’ve been involved with this co...

"Before you can recommend where a company should go, you need to understand where it stands today." Many teams rush to develop solutions before fully understanding the organisation's financial condition. Winning teams do the opposite. They begin by diagnosing...