Yes, the thought leaders in the eth community are indeed influential just like Linus Torvalds is to the Kernel project. But that doesn't mean you can't fork Linux should you disagree with him.
What you are saying is not a technical problem. But a problem in Human Society. Or even just an inherent due to it's novelty. This issue is present to almost anything that is not yet widely adapted.
With that said, giant evil mega corporations have grouped up to work on an 'enterprisy' version of Ethereum with a standard spec for interop. We're on a good track to get more 'thought leaders'.
