Page 16 - The Twelve Concepts for World Service

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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 incorporat-
ed 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.

his Concept deals with the ways the
T 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.