Short form: To insure effective leadership, we should endow each element of AA—the Conference, the General Service Board and its service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives—with a traditional Right of Decision.
- Under this concept, I act, consult, ask for help, and report back
- The ultimate authority (Concept I), speaking through the voice of conscience (Concept II), delegates work to me (Concept III).
- I am given a task to perform, with a defined output.
- The means of producing that output can also be defined to some extent.
- However, within the scope of that, I have the right of decision to perform the task and produce the output as I see fit.
- Anything defined: I stick to.
- Anything not defined: I dispose of as I see fit.
- This does not mean as my ego sees fit: I must be hollowed out, so that I can bring all of my God-given abilities, experience, and energies to bear on the task in hand, all the while guided by God.
- That guidance from God is simple to achieve: I ask for direction, then listen through my conscience.
- God is therefore in charge of the whole process: both in the delegation to me of duties, and in the discharge of those duties.
- The level of action is different than the level of decision.
- The level of action brings other practical considerations into play, it brings other people into play, and it evolves in real time.
- That means that I may have to make decisions on the ground that take these three into account: practical considerations, other people, and evolution.
- In consequence, there will be times I have to act against an express wish of the delegating authority.
- As a trusted servant, although I must never forget the delegating authority and the ultimate authority standing behind the delegating authority, I am also an intelligent agent of God, with my own hotline.
- Therefore, I am not merely a messenger, a vote carrier, or a robot.
- This freedom is tempered in three ways:
- At established decision-making meetings, and in between them, I can consult the delegating authority or others affected.
- I can ask for help.
- I must report back periodically, and accept adjustment in four ways: censure, redirection, reorganisation, and replacement.
- Trust as a principle operating throughout Concept III:
- Others trust us to act.
- We trust others to act:
- Those to whom we delegate.
- Peers in the delegation structure.
- We trust God to guide us through conscience: this means saying 'no' to the ego's 'no' to God.
- God trusts us to act on His behalf.
- Ultimate vs delegated authority:
- God has ultimate authority for my life.
- I have only delegated authority.
- God takes the credit.
- God does the worrying.
- The exercise of right of decision.
- The first decision is whether to act, consult, ask, or report.
- The second decision is how to carry these out.
- Each involves the practice of Step Three.
- This means praying and listening through my conscience for answers.
- God then takes control of everything that does not matter and guides everything that does.
- Applying this to my life:
- Whenever I have an addiction or a defect, my four options are act, consult, ask, or report.
- As above, the first decision is which of these to do, and the second decision is how.
- As I practice Step Three, am I guided by God in these two decisions, and then everything that does not matter, the lower level concerns of the material world, the addictions, and the defects, are automatically brought under God's control.
- Letting others practise Concept III:
- Others are allowed to drink again, to not work the programme, or to act as they see fit.
- They are allowed to seek God's guidance, or to postpone doing this.
- God's curriculum is compulsory, but we can temporise almost indefinitely.
- When pain gets too much, and it always will, everyone will say, 'there must be a better way'.
- If I interfere with others' pain, I am detaining them.
- No one need act against their conscience to please me.
- No one need see things the same way as me.
- I carry the message but you may choose to reject it for now.
- If others' decisions affect me unduly (Tradition IV), I can practise Concept V to express a minority opinion: I may oppose or obstruct genuinely wrongful or harmful action.
- This option should be invoked only with caution and guided by God and only where genuinely necessary.
- This is where the greater good is served.
- The practice of respect:
- Disagree without being disagreeable.
- Allow differences to persist: do not force resolution.
- State the truth as I see it in a loving way.
- Be polite, courteous, gracious, tactful, discreet, considerate, and of good cheer: speak only when necessary.
Inventory:
Looking at the above ideas:
Where am I currently falling down?
What can I do differently?