- The views and opinions expressed
during this podcast are those of our guests.
No one person speaks for A.A. as a whole.
(upbeat music)
- Welcome to episode eight, the season one finale
of Our Primary Purpose.
My name is Nathan and I'm an alcoholic.
Welcome to GSO.
(upbeat music)
All season long we've been talking about GSO's many roles
including organizing and supporting meetings and events.
But the most important event
of the year is the General Service Conference.
When delegates from across the US and Canada come together
to make decisions about A.A.
They are responsible for ensuring
that the groups in A.A. have a voice
in the affairs of the fellowship.
The work of the General Service Conference
is not all business.
There is something deeply spiritual about the responsibility
of charting A.A.'s future.
At the 1954 General Service Conference, Bernard B. Smith,
non-alcoholic, then chairperson of the Board of Trustees,
and one of the architects
of the A.A. service structure spoke on the topic.
We asked retired GSO staffer Jeff W.
to read from Smith's remarks.
Why do we need a conference?
- We may not need a General Service Conference
to ensure our own recovery.
We do need it to ensure the recovery of the alcoholic
who still stumbles in the darkness.
One short block from this room.
We need it to ensure the recovery
of a child being born tonight destined for alcoholism.
We need it to provide in keeping with our 12th step,
a permanent haven for all alcoholics
who in the ages ahead confined in A.A.
that rebirth that brought us back to life.
We need it because we more than all others are conscious
of the devastating effect of the human urge for power
and prestige, which we must ensure can never invade A.A.
We need it to ensure A.A. against government
while insulating it against anarchy.
We need it to protect A.A.
We need it so that Alcoholics Anonymous
and Alcoholics Anonymous alone is the ultimate repository
of its 12 steps, its 12 traditions and all of its services.
We need it to ensure that changes within A.A. come only
as a response to the needs and wants of all A.A.
and not of any few.
We need it to ensure that the doors of the halls of A.A.
never have locks on them, so that all people for all time
who have an alcoholic problem may enter these halls unasked
and feel welcome.
We need it to ensure that Alcoholics Anonymous never asks
of anyone who needs us, what his or her race is, what his
or her creed is, what his or her social position is.
(peaceful music)
- So the Conference is responsible
to help guide A.A. today and in the future,
and GSO is responsible
for implementing their recommendations.
Today we meet the person who leads GSO,
Bob W.
- Glad to be here. - Bob's title
is General Manager, which is comparable
to an executive director at any large nonprofit.
But this role comes with some key differences.
The General Manager must have at least 10 years
of continuous sobriety in A.A.,
along with extensive A.A. service experience.
The GM works closely with our two boards,
that's the General Service Board
and AA World Services Board, the General Service Conference
and the Fellowship at large.
That's US, Canada, and abroad.
So the person in this key role
must also have a deep understanding
of how the service structure functions.
But on the day-to-day in the office.
- What I do is I provide leadership for those employees
for the AAWS employees.
GSO has about a hundred employees
between A.A. World Services and A.A. Grapevine.
So I like to say that I provide leadership.
You lead people and manage things.
And so we talk a lot about in A.A. in our principles
of delegating responsibility.
From the day that I got here,
about three and a half years ago,
I committed to infuse the principles
of Alcoholics Anonymous into the operations
of the General Service Office.
And that's what I try to do a day at a time.
And again, that translates to servant leadership,
which is a principle based leadership,
the right of decision.
Our Third Concept, I try to exercise as a leader
to the various department heads
and people that report to me.
And I try to lead by example to all of those managers
and directors to do the same, to allow them to be able
to make decisions.
Another principle we hear about is the right to be wrong
and how we're not punitive in A.A.
Other principles like the right of participation
and how important that is.
And we hear in A.A., a good idea can come from anywhere.
And so I allow for participation
and I want to hear from others.
So that's what I try to do a day at a time
and try to put things in place throughout the office
to allow for that to happen.
Maybe I lead the General Service Office.
I'm a leader in the General Service Office
and I say a leader
because my leadership style is more one
of servant leadership.
Really principle-based leadership.
It's a we program
and it's a we office, to try to simply state
what the General Service Office is difficult
because it supports so much.
It supports all the members and groups of the US and Canada,
but really around the world.
There's 62 other General Service Boards
and/or General Service Offices around the world
that are autonomous from us.
But we bring experience, strength and hope to them.
So many, many groups
and many members require
assistance in carrying the message of A.A.
and we try to help facilitate that process.
And that happens in a number of ways.
Literature, podcasts, all sorts of different services
to help members and groups to carry the message.
Our office is a repository of shared experience
with many members and groups who've contacted us,
who we've helped or have shared what they've done
and we've collected their experience
and we share it with other groups who need that help.
The General Service Office is very much like
any other business in a lot of ways,
but it's a spiritual business.
When we say to visitors, welcome
to your General Service Office, we really mean it.
It truly is their office.
But it's kind of a lot.
- It is a lot. - There's a lot there.
But thank God for the slogans
of Alcoholics Anonymous One Day at a Time.
My sponsor has moved me into the nanosecond most
of the time, so I can keep stress free.
I try to do that and, yeah.
- Well, you're in high demand. - Yep, absolutely.
- In the past couple of years, you've traveled a lot.
Can you tell us a bit about why it's important
for the General Manager to travel?
- Well, it's definitely a part of what I do,
and there's different reasons why I go to various places,
countries, or states or provinces.
One of the big pieces of my travel are regional forums,
which are gatherings to allow for members of the Fellowship
to meet members of the General Service Board,
the corporate boards and the office,
and ask questions of any kind and share information.
And so one of the parts of my role is a co-chair
of those regional forums.
I do that with Scott H.
The chair of the General Service Board.
But I've also traveled by invitation to local areas.
I choose those based upon the requests that come in.
I have to balance that between the time I need
to spend in the office as well.
And internationally, I traveled to Poland
for the 50th anniversary celebration of A.A. in Poland
and also Portugal.
Portugal held an international convention in October.
And those international trips usually in most cases
are trustees at large.
And the person on our international assignment
goes on those trips.
And sometimes there's reasons that I might go.
In the case with Poland,
there was a real solid business purpose behind that.
We've been doing an awful lot of work
with licensing our literature internationally.
And in Portugal, they asked me specifically
to give a presentation on our licensing process
and the history of our licensing.
And it was just an incredible experience.
I found a story of a person who was very pivotal
and the work that she went through to be able to translate
that book into Portuguese was unbelievable.
And so it was great to be able to be there to give
that presentation, to answer questions
and to share what we do and how we do it.
- The world is growing more and more virtual.
Why is it so important to physically go to these locations?
- You know, I think it comes down to the root
of Alcoholics Anonymous with one member sitting down
with another, sharing their experience, strength and hope.
And not that we don't see that happen virtually,
it happened, people got sober through that time.
But there's something about just being together
and meeting people and be able to build those relationships.
And there were many members from other countries
around the world that attended those conventions,
not just us from the United States and Canada,
and some of them were international delegates
to our world service meeting.
And so we ate together, we went
to meetings together while we were there,
we got to know each other.
And so you forge those relationships.
And then you fast forward to our World Service Meeting
that we just had in the end of October.
And there were several folks there,
including the representatives from both Poland and Portugal.
But there were people there from Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico,
a lot of other countries.
And so just that more tighter one-on-one connection
of being there together in that moment with the individual,
that was really paramount in translating the big book
into Portuguese, being able to see her and give her a hug
and just be in that space, it just couldn't have happened.
- Okay, let's step back from the international stage.
I want to go back to something you said a few minutes ago.
We were talking about how the GSO serves groups
in the US and Canada.
How do we make sure that we do that effectively?
- Yeah, it's challenging.
We have a service structure that goes
through the group level of a GSR to a district, to an area,
to an assembly, to the General Service Conference,
to the General Service Board.
And the office is wielded around
that General Service Board and the Conference.
Yet there's members who are not connected to that,
that never see that, that will raise their hand
on social media sometimes and other places
and say, why is our money getting spent like that?
But they're not necessarily talking
with delegates and that type of thing.
So it is very challenging.
- Yeah. Yeah.
All right. Full plate.
Lots of challenges.
What about the highlights?
- Oh, highlights.
I think some of the changes that we've made at GSO
in really all to the good speaking of that process,
the stronger desire
to deliver background in English, French
and Spanish at the same time
and what it takes to do that.
So our translation processes were in great need
of revision.
And also our international licensing was another function
that was very challenging.
Licensing our literature around the world
is a lot of demand for that,
large number of requests come in for that.
And translating the actual literature itself
and then licensing it for distribution to other countries.
So we created a language services department
to handle all of the document translation,
to put some focus around the function.
And so there's much more clarity now,
which I'm so excited about, to open the door
to actually translate our literature into other languages.
But it's not just our Big Book, it's our 12 and 12,
it's our pamphlets
and the other incredible lifesaving literature that we have.
So those are things to me that have been very exciting.
I think on top of all of it, we have
incredible comradery among each other.
And all of this work that we've done together has brought
some great feeling
and really like, you know, living the 12 steps,
part of the 36 principles,
I'm confusing the principles into the operations.
And, you know, we get along, we like each other
and you know, we do good work together.
- I'm sure there's many, but was there a moment
or two that's left a lasting impact on you
during your time as GM?
- I was in Cuba in 2022, I believe it was.
And it was amazing to be there.
A.A. was having a very difficult time there.
And so I attended their conference
and their conference was really struggling.
And I think about the challenges we have
and to see that kind of struggle, you know,
inflation just through the roof
and yet watching them all come together to still find
a way to do the work of Alcoholics Anonymous,
but seeing those kinds of things,
this role is way bigger than me.
And this is a movement
of Alcoholics Anonymous and amazing things happen.
- And those of us that work at GSO are reminded of
how spiritual that work can be.
- Yep, absolutely.
I think the lasting impact of the work
that happens here at the General Service Office,
that's fed from all the members of the groups
and how we're all part of the same team.
And at the end of the day,
sometimes we get involved in a lot of the details
of the structure and the way that our assemblies work
and our conference works
and all of those things are really, really important.
But one thing I think it's important to always remember
is that, how does it transmit?
How does it find the next still suffering alcoholic?
I remember a very big argument in a local area
where I come from in Western Massachusetts
several years ago, who argued, should we be putting When
and Where meeting lists in the local library?
And some thought it might be crossing
a tradition for whatever reason.
And it was a very big debate.
And it turned out that what won the day was yes,
they could go into the libraries.
And about six or eight months later,
I remember a speaker got up to the podium
and talked about how they were at the end of their rope
and they were at their local library
and picked up a meeting list of When and Where.
And it made me think back to that
and how important that was.
And you know, that's an example from the local level.
But things like that are happening here at GSO all the time.
And we don't necessarily hear it or know it.
I think it's important to just remember, you know,
who we are and what we're doing and how it transmits.
- Thank you Bob. - Thank you.
(upbeat music)
- To find a meeting near you
or a meeting online,
download the Meeting Guide app on your mobile device.
For more information about A.A.,
please visit our website at aa.org.
- Bob spoke on how one
of the highlights in his time here as GM
has been the establishment and success
of the new Language Services Department.
A.A. World Services is a three language organization.
That means to the extent possible, we make our print
and digital content available in English, French
and Spanish.
Roberto, a visitor to GSO from Miami, is a great example
of the importance of carrying the A.A. message in Spanish.
- So my name is Roberto, I'm an alcoholic.
I am from Miami, Florida, born and raised.
I got here at 25 years old.
I'm currently going on 31.
Yeah, about five years clean now.
I found my home group immediately
and I have not changed my home group ever since.
My home group is a Spanish speaking home group.
My first language was Spanish,
despite the fact that I was born here,
my parents have lived here for many years.
I choose to be there I think mainly because
I didn't have any other experience of an English group.
Honestly, I haven't had the experience.
This is probably about third time
that I shared an experience or I talked about A.A.
or I talked about a testimony
or anything of that matter in English.
Yeah, the second time was this morning
when I shared at the meeting of the GSO.
My experience in Spanish groups of A.A.,
Hispanic groups of A.A.,
is they showed me a very strong presence
of brotherhood immediately.
And I think I was looking for that.
I was looking for that and that helped a lot.
I think that I stopped fighting the obsession
and I started to hope
and desire for my group to be open
so that the message could continue to be sent out.
You know, if somebody comes or wants to come in
and the doors are closed, what am I doing?
But I have to do everything I can to maintain the doors open
and maintain unity within my group.
- Where did that need come from?
- It was based on the services I started to partake in,
it was based on the experiences I was acquired
because my sponsor motivated me
to always have a service.
And it started off with something very simple, in Spanish,
they're called 'guardias' (Spanish) or guards,
which is the themes of the week
or the coordinators of the week for a meeting.
'Cause in our group, they change,
every day is a different coordinator.
And it started with that.
Next thing you know, I'm in charge of events.
Next thing you know, I'm secretary.
Next thing you know, I'm treasurer.
Next thing you know, I'm the coordinator.
I don't know exactly most of these words, I don't know how
to say them in English 'cause I
never did anything in English.
It's all been in Spanish,
but in, in Spanish it's called the coordinator of.
(Roberto speaking in Spanish)
The table of services.
I'm not sure exactly how it is in English.
I haven't really read it,
any of the information or any of the literature in English.
Everything is in Spanish for me.
And when I got my first service as the coordinator,
the head coordinator of the group, I experienced
so much and I learned so much.
And I started to create character and the personality
and actually like be able to defend myself.
And next thing you know, I get another service.
I haven't stopped serving ever since.
And then within my third, fourth year,
I started traveling constantly.
I started to go to New York, Chicago, Atlanta,
Oklahoma, Texas.
And I started to experience what the literature spoke
to me about, but I couldn't actually visualize.
- And what was that? - I started to experience
how big this really was.
How big, like I said, I don't know how to say it in English,
but I think it's how the heart of A.A. pumps
through the veins of all the groups.
I think it's something like that, right?
I went to Oklahoma,
I never imagined myself going to Oklahoma.
And I had like an out body experience
because of the service, not because I saw anything.
I just felt like I was accomplishing something
that would help my group stay open.
I think that's what it was.
But the greatest experience I had was going to Mexico.
- Tell us that story.
- So there was a service for Mexico
and I couldn't cover it because at the time I was going
through financial struggles
and two members of the group said, listen,
most of us can't go.
They bought the ticket probably a few hours
before going to the airport.
I was still debating whether I should just say F it
and not go.
Someone told me, go, you have to go.
I promise you it'll be worth it.
Like the idea was that members of the group
that I was gonna go visit were just gonna push me aside.
And it was like, ah, it's American guy.
He's young, he's 30 years old.
That's what I thought.
The way that these guys took care
of me when I arrived to the group.
I mean, I've never seen something like that.
It was incredible.
There was so many people there.
I felt a presence.
I covered my service.
I spoke in front of like about a hundred people
and I shared my experience.
I stepped down and I went
to the bathroom and I started crying
'cause I couldn't believe where I was.
I couldn't believe how big this was.
I couldn't believe how all these people at some point got
the same opportunity that I got of this information
that I think you guys facilitate, right?
I couldn't believe that I was granted a second opportunity
at life to see and witness all these things.
I couldn't believe it,
it was incredible.
I guess it's kind of like a paradox, right?
Or something illogical that two hours or an hour
and a half in a room with other people talking,
but sharing those experiences
of what they've gone through is how he stay sober.
I can't believe I've stayed sober for so long.
I can't believe most of the,
I can't believe this is happening right now.
I can't believe I got my son back.
I can't believe that my mom could sleep at night now.
But it's there.
It's there.
And I'm witnessing it all firsthand.
There's a saying in in our groups in Spanish that says
that the service doesn't recover.
It maintains.
I like to think that the service has done
so much for me in the last two to three years
to make me visualize
where I'm heading more than anything in the world.
(bright music)
(Roberto speaking in Spanish)
(bright music)
- And that concludes season one of Our Primary Purpose.
We hope you've enjoyed listening
as much as we've enjoyed producing it,
and we cannot wait to bring you season two,
which is already in the works.
Be sure to subscribe
and stay tuned for a very special bonus episode coming soon.
And in the meantime, as always, keep coming back.
(bright music)
- In this podcast, we respect the anonymity of A.A. members.
Last names are shared only for those who are not in A.A.
Thank you for listening to Our Primary Purpose,
a podcast produced by the General Service Office on behalf
of the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous
in the US and Canada.
(bright music)