It is more about having meaningful and actionable community accountability and responsiveness to stakeholders (i.e. users), coupled with a desire to build an organic community. It might not always be a nimble structure, but it can be a long-lasting resilient structure if properly managed. See the governance structure of ICANN for an example of what I mean.
And my time as a board member with my local CBD (our version of a business improvement district) definitely helped shaped my perspective as much as my time being on advocacy-related boards.