Tradition 9 · September 22

Business Meetings

Daily Traditions · September 22

Before the Tradition

The Akron central committee was having a bad night. People were shouting over each other about how things ought to be run — the ordinary, ugly noise of a business meeting that has stopped being about business. Dr. Bob stood up and put his hands out. Enough. Stop. Then he said this (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers): "Gentlemen, please. We're still members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Let's carry the principles of A.A. into these business meetings. You are servants of your group, here to take the ideas formulated by the committee." Read the order he puts it in. Not a reprimand. Not a lecture on how to hold a debate. He reminds them what they are first — members, the same as anyone in the room on a Tuesday — and only then what they're for. It's the whole Tradition in four sentences, delivered before it was ever written down, by a man who never had a title in A.A. and never needed one.

Sit with

Dr. Bob stopped a shouting match by reminding the room what they were before he reminded them what they were for. When I'm arguing about how something should be run, would I recognize myself as the same person who walks into the meeting?

Grounded in: Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (Dan K.'s account of the central committee).

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 21A Great Many Sheets of Paper Tradition 9All of September September 23 →Now Dr. Bob Said

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).