Tradition 9 · September 14

Six Months, Then Out

Daily Traditions · September 14

How a group breaks it

This one was learned inside A.A.'s own head office, and it changed how that office got staffed. Bill W. wrote (A.A. Service Manual): "We once had the conventional system of one highly paid staff member with assistants at much lower pay. Hers had been the principal voice in hiring them. Quite unconsciously, I'm certain, she engaged people who she felt would not be competitive with her. Meanwhile she kept a tight rein on all the important business of the place. A prodigy of wonderful work was done. But suddenly she collapsed, and shortly afterwards one of her assistants did the same. We were left with only one partly trained assistant who knew anything whatever about the total operation." The damage did not stay in the office. Bill put a number on it: "this breakdown had cost us much confidence out in the field — so much so that we must have lost $50,000 in three years of group contributions." Now bring it home to a room of forty. When one person becomes the only one who knows how anything works, the group hasn't gained a servant. It has acquired a single point of failure, and it will not find out until the day that person is gone.

Sit with

Nobody intended any of it, and the work was excellent right up until the day it stopped. Where have I made myself necessary and called it helping?

Grounded in: A.A. Service Manual, Concept XI (the office that collapsed).

Tradition 9

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

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 9 → Get the app →

← September 13Equipped to Set Up a Center Tradition 9All of September September 15 →Responsibility, Not Authority

Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).