It looks like those who say you are too direct and those who say you should be more assertive are not the same set of people. My guess at this point is that your subordinates say you are too direct while your VP says you are not assertive enough. If you don't know who said what about you, you won't resolve anything. Your first task is, of course, to find out who said what about you.
The sum total of the feedback is inconsistent but those individuals who gave you their feedback are VERY consistent in how they evaluate you. And their evaluation of you is no doubt affected by how high they are in the hierarchy.
You've got some detective work ahead of you. How you respond to the feedback has to be tailored to meet the expectations of whoever gave you the feedback. Otherwise, your response won't be effective.