Situation picture
The description of the situation on which a decision rests, once its three materials have been separated: what is known, what is assumed, and what others have an interest in making one believe. It is the product of the second step of the method, with its blind spots named.
What it changes for the executive
Every situation picture mixes these three materials, and the most convincing narrative is rarely the most accurate: supplier, partner, manager, competitor, banker, each brings his own. The discipline consists of sorting before building the options, from open sources, the figures and separate interviews, and writing down what remains uncertain rather than filling it with an estimate. That discipline comes from intelligence work, not from consulting.
Example
Before an acquisition, the potential buyer says what he says, assumes what he assumes, and has an interest in making one believe what he has an interest in. The situation picture tells them apart before the negotiation begins.
A term that is missing?
Describe the situation in a few lines; the reply is personal.