Allowing the government to have, and perhaps exercise, wide-ranging ownership rights over private businesses would clearly be quite a significant move. With debt, however, the holder generally has no influence on management, especially if the debt is acquired in the secondary market (so the holder does not negotiate any covenants associated with the debt) and if the firm is not in bankruptcy.
In fact, the study found that leadership could come from almost anywhere. The successful leader was simply the person or entity that recognized the importance of preventing further deterioration in the local economy and agreed to take responsibility for the effort to turn things around.