You can’t present a web. You have to choose a path.

Research is a web; presentations are a path. If you struggle to edit your discovery phase into a directive strategy, this is for you. We’re covering three mental models to help you bridge the gap between "exhaustive" research and "directive" leadership.

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Information moves one minute after another. It is sequential. It can be no other way. Even if you start in the middle of the action—in media res—you are still leading your audience down a single path.

This is the central challenge of high-stakes discovery. You’ve spent weeks uncovering a web of insights—a non-linear space where every data point connects to five others. You find these proof points fascinating because they represent the full, complex truth.

But you cannot present a web. You have to choose a path.

Exhaustive vs. directive

When you live in research, your brain builds a mental map of every connection. By the time you present, those 1,000 points are a single, unified picture. You see how it all fits because you were there for the journey.

In this state, you are exhaustive. You have the full map, and every detail feels necessary because every detail is true.

But the moment you start editing for a stakeholder, you must switch gears. You must move from exhaustive to directive.

The challenge is the filter. Out of 1,000 insights, which ones actually help your decision-maker make the choice you think they should make?

Three paths through the web

Leaving data out feels like inviting confusion. You worry a "snapshot" won't have the weight of the full web. But your job isn't to show the work—it’s to show the way.

Use these three models to filter the web into a directive path:

1. The tension path Identify the single biggest knot in the web—the place where the research contradicts what the company currently believes.

• Filter: ignore the 900 points everyone already knows. Connect only the dots that create a clash.
• Result: you aren't just giving a report; you’re solving a puzzle they can’t ignore.

2. The foundational pillar path Treat the web like a structural engineering problem. Identify the three most "load-bearing" insights that support your recommendation.

• Filter: if a proof point doesn't directly hold up the recommendation, it stays in the notebook.
• Result: you reduce cognitive load by organizing a thousand variables into three categories that make the conclusion feel inevitable.

3. The anomaly path Follow the "glitch"—the outlier discovery that changes the entire context of the project.

• Filter: find the one "black swan" data point no one expected. Connect only the dots that explain why that anomaly is the new reality.
• Result: a single, shocking, well-evidenced anomaly is often more persuasive than a hundred points that just confirm what they already suspected.

Wrap-up

The 90% you leave out is the foundation. It’s the "how" and the "why" that stays in your back pocket or the appendix. It’s the safety net that ensures your direction isn't just an opinion.

The 10% is the insight. It’s the "so what."

The gap between the two is where you add the most value. Anyone can find information. Very few can refine it into a path.

Until next week,
Meghan
Founder, The Good Deck