Tradition 11 · November 30

People We Do Not Control

Daily Traditions · November 30

How it gets captured

The Tradition ends on a sentence that sounds like modesty and is in fact a supply chain (Big Book, p. 565). "There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our friends recommend us." A.A.'s whole growth was built on that arrangement — doctors, clergy, judges, newspapermen and the man at the next desk, all recommending A.A. because they had watched it work and had nothing whatever to gain. Now hold the arrangement up and change one thing. The friend still recommends A.A. He is also being paid a referral fee, or he has beds to fill, or his platform earns on the click. Every word he says may be true. But the recommendation is no longer free, and a recommendation that is not free is an advertisement wearing a friend's face. A.A. cannot audit this, and has no standing to try. Which is why that closing sentence has to be read as the whole thing it is — not merely that we should stay quiet about ourselves, but that we depend, completely and permanently, on the honesty of people we do not control.

Sit with

The entire arrangement rests on people who had nothing to gain saying so anyway. Who has spoken well of me when there was nothing in it for them — and have I ever told them it mattered?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 11; Big Book p. 565.

Tradition 11

"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

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 11 → Get the app →

← November 29Two Hundred Strangers Tradition 11All of November →All of November

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).