The Starfish and the Spider is a management book. You would not think that a book on management would include a discussion of AA. But, this book is about AA.
Both spiders and starfish have central cores and outer limbs. But Starfish organizations are decentralized. Spider organizations are centralized.
Starfish organizations have separate arms, cells or groups. Cut the arm off a starfish, and it will grow another starfish. The arms are self-creating, with genetics from the original. Each arm has the capacity for independent life. In starfish organizations, each cell or group has the DNA of the original and can spawn a new group. Starfish organizations grow fast. Because each group is independent, it is impossible to kill a starfish organization. It is, in the modern management jargon, anti-fragile. It thrives in adversity and stress.
Spider organizations have separate arms, but they must be connected to the center core. Separate from the core, they are dead. The arms cannot replicate the original. Spider organizations have a command and control structure that can make unified decisions and resource deployments. They are generally more efficient and focused. But they can be killed; they can die. They are fragile. They are not as resilient as starfish organizations.
The book describes two quintessential starfish organizations, Al-Qaeda and early AA. Both organizations are made up of independent cells or groups. In AA, we have groups and meetings – in Al-Qaeda, cells. In both AA and Al-Qaeda cells or groups sub-divide. They spawn other cells and groups. Each cell is self-contained and self-administering. Common values govern their actions. And the members see a purpose larger than themselves for which they are prepared to sacrifice. These values and reward incentives align the members. No central coordination is needed. The growth is meteoric. Both AA and Al Queda are anti-fragile.
Early AA was of the starfish breed. Cut off an arm, and two more would spring up. With only a loose organization, everyone was aligned with strong values and purpose. AA members had a passion for the local and an awareness of the global. It was, one of the most excellent starfish organisms, its early growth and success in attracting newcomers proved the case.
But organizations that start as starfish can change to spiders. The author of the book suggests that AA is morphing to a spider. Control from the center is growing—the New York office with a multimillion-dollar budget issues policies and procedures. There are practices approved by New York. There is a canon of Conference-Approved readings and literature.
The Conference-Approved literature may have been the beginning. The idea that something could be and should be “Conference-Approved” was a crucial and initial part of the transition of AA from starfish to spider. In the ’60s, with a General Conference created, control was asserted with the idea of Conference-Approved Literature. A canon of officially blessed and sanctioned reading. Despite the protests that AA had servant leaders, not governors, AA started to lose its starfish capacities. And today, we wake up to find spider governors instead of starfish leaders, governors who approve literature rather than supply literature.
Why is this important? Spiders can die; they are fragile. We are witnessing a decline in AA. Newcomers are not staying. Old-timers are bored. Central offices are closing with financial problems. AA runs deficits. Our precious AA is in Crisis.
We have lost the AA founders’ sense of adventure.
One decision made decades ago started the problem. The decision that literature would be described as “Conference-Approved,” was the start of the slippery slope to spider-hood. An Approved list of reading, and if there is Approved reading, there is Approved thinking.
Over the decades, “Conference-Approved” has become an AA mantra. In meetings and Central Offices across North America, if it is not Conference Approved, it does not fly. And this led to a synonymous phrase, “New York-Approved.” Actions that are not “New York Approved” are forbidden.
New ideas and approaches die in Inter-Group meetings, condemned by the phrase “it is not New York Approved.” The bleeding deacons that Bill Wilson warned us of have new and powerful verbal tools. “It is not Approved.” “It is not in the Policy Manual.” “We looked at that, and New York has said No.”
Service positions are only of interest to those steeped in “New York and Conference-Approved” language and ideas.
It need not have been so. If in the 60’s we had described the literature as, “Conference-Supplied,” we would have affirmed Conference servant-hood and rejected their governorship.
But we did not. As a result, we are petrifying. Our literature and our habits are frozen in time. Our Founders’ sense of experimentation and innovation has vanished.
We need to take AA back from the governors. Recently, I was attending a meeting in a small village in Scotland. Remote from the Conference-Approved cult, the literature table included Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox and Varieties of Religious Experience by William James. They were displayed beside the Big Book and AA Comes of Age. That is what we need—more distance from the Conference-Approved cult.
Let us have Conference-Supplied literature. No longer Conference-Approved.
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thank you for the information
Hi Andy,
I appreciate the courage and honesty you have expressed in this essay. I am one of those 29 years sober ones, who does feel bored at times. I appreciate the thoughtfulness you expressed in your observation of the problem, and especially how you moved into a workable solution. I truly love this……it is sincere, thoughtful, and provides a way for us to continue to grow. And now I want to go to Scotland again, and hopefully hit the same meeting you attended!!
Thanks very much for your comment. Have fun is Scotland. They have good sobriety. Love. Andy.