Strategy formulation should be partly democratic

I recently interacted with a few senior folks (think top 10% of the org). Our company had announced a transformative decision—one that will change the trajectory of the company—a couple of months ago. (Execution will tell whether the trajectory change is minimal or meaningful.) What struck me was:

• How clearly they (i.e., senior leaders) recognized that decisions of this scale affect them (duh).
• How unclear they were on the why, and how many fundamental questions they asked.
• How unsatisfied they were with stock responses (e.g., all-hands Q&A, email, etc.).
• How unwilling they were to do the work to read between the lines.

While it is not the responsibility of the CEO to make decision-making democratic, I can see the merit/value in employees—ideally all, but definitely some—hearing the signals, assumptions, and hypotheses that went into the decision(s). If they don't understand the why, they won't be motivated to execute and move.