Malcolm said: Beyond that though, is the problem Becky identified earlier: it seems
you are mistaken when you say that an organisation's board is required to obey/comply with its bylaws. We have been told that the Board of an organisation with no members has a fiduciary duty to the company that takes precedence over the Bylaws: if the Board decides that it is in the best interests of the corporation to defy the bylaws, then defying them is their legal duty. Only by creating a membership (whether through Empowered SOs, UAs, Open Membership, or some other approach) can we raise up the bylaws to something the Board must honour in the way you assume they already must.
I think the issue is a little more nuanced Malcolm, so I apologize if I oversimplified. Bylaws consist of words, which are subject to various interpretations. The Board must interpret and apply the bylaws in light of its fiduciary obligations. In a membership organization, the SOs and ACs would have a meaningful way to participate in and effect that interpretation and application process.