Tradition Nine

Our A.A. experience has taught us that:

Each A.A. group needs the least possible organisation. Rotating leadership is the best. The small group may elect it’s secretary, the large group it’s rotating committee, and the groups of a large metropolitan area their central or Intergroup committee, which often employs a full-time secretary. The trustees of the General Service Board are, in effect, our A.A. General Service Committee. They are the custodians of our A.A. Tradition and the receivers of voluntary A.A. contributions by which we maintain our A.A. General Service Office at New York. They are authorised by the groups to handle our over-all public relations and they guarantee the integrity of our principle newspaper, the A.A. Grapevine. All such representatives are to be guided in the spirit of service, for true leaders in A.A. are but trusted and experienced servants of the whole. They service no real authority from their titles; they do not govern. Universal respect is the key to their usefulness.

A.A., as such, ought never be organised; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.