they exercise
through their
ability to elect all
directors of these
entities.
Concept VIII
The Trustees of the
General Service
Board act in two
primary capacities:
(a) With respect to
the larger matters
of over-all policy
and finance, they
are the principal
planners and
administrators. They
and their primary
committees directly
manage these
affairs, (b) But
with respect to our
separately
incorporated and
constantly active
services, the
relation of the
Trustees is mainly
that of full stock
ownership and of
custodial oversight
which
they exercise
through their
ability to elect all
directors of these
entities.
This Concept deals
with the ways the
General Service
Board
"discharges its
heavy
obligations,"
and its relationship
with its two
subsidiary
corporations: A. A.
World Services, Inc.
and the A. A.
Grapevine, Inc.
Long experience has
proven that the
board "must
devote itself almost
exclusively to the
larger questions of
policy, finance,
group relations and
leadership....In
these matters, it
must act with great
care and skill to
plan, manage and
execute."
The board,
therefore, must not
be distracted or
burdened with the
details or the
endless questions
which arise daily in
the routine
operation of the
General Service
Office or the
publishing
operations,
including the
Grapevine. "It
must delegate its
executive
function" to
its subsidiary,
operating boards.
"Here the
board's attitude has
to be that of
custodial
oversight....The
trustees are the
guarantors of good
management of A. A.
World Services, Inc.
and the A. A.
Grapevine, Inc....by
electing the
directors of these
service arms, a part
of whom must always
be trustees.... The
executive direction
of these functions
is…lodged in the…service
corporations
themselves, rather
than the General
Service Board. Each
corporate service
entity should
possess its own
bylaws, its own
working capital, its
own executives, its
own employees, its
own offices and
equipment."
Bill draws from
earlier mistakes by
the General Service
Board in trying to
run the service
functions directly
and warns repeatedly
against “too much
concentration of
money and authority.”