They probably aren't good employees then, honestly. My scenario here is entirely dependent on leaders trusting their reports, if that isn't possible then at best they can try to force objectives down from the top.

I'd argue that still won't work, and in my experience it hasn't. Id your employees don't understand the business or aren't good at defining goals, you've failed them as a leader. Maybe they shouldn't have been hired, though I'd argue they have been poorly managed and put into roles that don't fit their skills and interests.

The model I was talking about here would be flipping the script entirely though. There wouldn't he a chance for someone to misunderstand the business. Leaders' entire task is taking what their reports' priorities are and unifying a vision and business plan from that (recursively until you reach independent contributors). Employees can never misunderstand, leadership can only misunderstand their employees.

> They probably aren't good employees then, honestly.

This is incredibly naive. Even in single product companies you can have excellent employees (e.g. a CNC machinist) who don’t know anything about the pricing, regulatory, and legal aspects of the company.