Not all the ideas brought upward by middle managers are full-blown strategic proposals. Frequently, their role is to supply information to top management concerning internal and external events. Inevitably, middle managers are not objective channels of data, however. They saturate information with meaning through personal evaluation and explicit advice-giving. Events are likely to be reported as "threats" or "opportunities," and these seemingly innocent labels are a powerful influence on how superiors come to see their situation. [vi]

In conveying "facts" middle manager’s may be laying the foundation for a future agenda. An opportunity can be championed successfully only when all agree the "timing is right," and usually this requires a considerable amount of prior discussion. Accordingly, middle managers are often able to control, or at least influence, top management perceptions by framing information in certain ways. They have been called information filters or "uncertainty absorbers," but the interpretation process is not necessarily conscious or manipulative. In the end, this role can be crucial in encouraging overly cautious top management teams to take needed risks.