Nobody Runs It for Life

Nobody runs an A.A. group for life. The Long Form says how it is done in one short sentence (Big Book, p. 565): "Rotating leadership is the best." The drunks in Cleveland worked that out before anyone wrote it down. In October 1939 they formed A.A.'s first central committee — seven people — and built the exit into it from day one: "one man and one woman dropped off each month to be replaced by the next in line according to seniority" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers) — seniority meaning time in A.A., not rank. Bill W. admitted what everyone had assumed until then: "Up to that time, all of our affairs had been in charge of the ultra-oldtimers, and we naturally supposed it would always be that way." Naturally supposed. That is how a person becomes a position — not by a vote, but by nobody thinking to ask. Rotation is the ask, built in, so the job always comes open and never turns into a man. It is also why the chair will be open to you. Now look at any room where the same person has run "the A.A. meeting" for years and is paid to. Nobody is rotating out of a salary. That room has a manager, and A.A. groups do not.