My understanding is that you can be flat and still have a project lead who is in charge of driving the project to the finish line. I'm skeptical of flat myself

My understanding is that you can be flat and still have a project lead who is in charge of driving the project to the finish line. I'm skeptical of flat myself but I'm not sure if it is to blame in your situation. Rather, you seemed to need a lead whose job is to ultimately make the project succeed.