When two rounds of client feedback directly contradict each other, who wins?

Ran into this again last week: client note round one says "make it punchier, cut faster." Client note round two, different stakeholder on the same account, says "it feels rushed, let shots breathe." Both notes are sincere, both people signed off on the brief, and now I'm the one holding two opposite instructions with a deadline in between.

My current rule is to go back and ask which note is closer to what gets shown to their boss, because that's usually the real constraint hiding under the feedback. But that only works if there's time to ask.

Curious how people in other craft-heavy work (design, copy, dev, anything with a client layer) handle this when you can't pause and ask. Do you pick the note from whoever has more authority, the most recent note, or just make a call and let the next round sort it out?