Thanks Page for your comment! I love this: "what motivates me to be a better leader of my teams is remembering what it was like when my boss treated us like pawns in his vision, not fellow dreamers." - that's a blog post in itself. Go for it!

What would advice would I give the team members if they have a leader like this? How should they address it? Should they address it? - Answering last question first... only if you think there's a chance they will listen, and even more importantly, that they won't hold it against you.  Aside from that, I've always found the best approach is to get the boss to talk more, which could sound like,
- Can you elaborate on what that would mean for an employee at my level?
- How would you want me to interpret this and apply it to my everyday work?
- How have you seen this work for you in the past with other organizations/teams you've led?

If you are worried the boss will get defensive, throwing this in (only if it is sincere) at the right moment helps: "Please know that I'm asking you these questions because I want to do a good job (or maybe) be clear on what's asked of me and deliver on that."
(http://bit.ly/mary-follow-on-LI)

If you are a boss, and you are worried no one is speaking up, one way to create a breakthrough is to work up to asking questions that are easy for an employee to answer about how things are going. Grow their trust in you when they see you aren't overreacting to the truth. A leader can tell people they are willing to hear the truth and that it is safe to share it, but they have to demonstrate it first. In fact, they may have to create opportunities to demonstrate it, as I described earlier in this paragraph.

More than you wanted, I'm sure, Page. But thanks for making me think how to take this discussion even further!