Council or GM?

Leading a guild can be hell.. not just hell for the leader(s) but it can be for the members aswell.
Luckily members often don't get all the shit that is going on behind the screen and i often wonder myself if i wouldn't be better off myself on the other end of that screen myself... ignorance is bliss aint it?
I've been an officer in my previous guild where i was leading the raids. Due to curcumstances is was lured into the Guilds council.. not that it changed much as i felt i was already close to the GM in there (slightly exaggerated ofc). I said goodbye of this council's job in awhile as it didn't produce the fruits i expected it to and general officertasks and raidleading was taking up too much time anyway.
This guild had an obvious council but as i said i felt like the GM at times, it felt like i was giving carte blanche as about everything i wanted to do and change was done. However i've always been one of those officers who was there because he was needed to... not because he wanted to. (maybe i got that of my childhood hero) If i would not feel i was needed i wouldn't accept the job and that what it often is: a job, but then without the pay.

Having one person as a Guildmaster can have his advantages.. decissions are often quickly made and actions quickly taken. Now this is not always an advantage ofcourse, sometimes it's better to be forced to think about something first and discuss it with others.
And what if your Guildmaster is a jerk or just simply with a whole different view on things then some others? A guild is likely to run into trouble.
But i can imagen having a great GM can work brilliantly aswell.
What about a Council? A big disadvantage imo is the speed at which it operates.. everything seems to be consulted with the others aswell.. if you take some quick action for a change there is a big chance someone else will go beserk.
Often it seems near impossible to get to an agreement the majority of a council backs which can drag out a decission endlessly where everyone is trying to make his point over and over again so someone else might change his mind. Best is to find a middle road but that simply aint just always there.
The advantage of a Council is that you can devide the workload and often get a result which is the offspring of the minds of several people.. which will likely match more people's ideas in the guild aswell.

I've run under a GM aswell.. i was just a regular member but he had his officers. This ubermensch GM saw his officers more as his henchmen tho and at a certain point he found himself colliding with his staff. The GM left the guild shortly after and a council was formed.
I don't think i could personally "work" as an officer with a GM like this above me but i could imagen a sort of partnership where the GM would take final responsibility and officers doing the daily running of the guild.
The current guild i'm a councillor in has sort of suckered me in that task aswell... i left my previous guild as i needed a break from being an officer and all the worries it brought along, i had to find back the fun in the game. My help was soon needed in the new guild as they told me and i became again part of the working force.
Truth told most people in this council pull their weight and i am nowhere close feeling like a GM nowadays which is pretty nice.
Still i wonder if being an officer is really worth it at times.. constantly solving "problems", being part of heated discussions both ingame as on the forums... being available for fellow guildies and always trying to give a good example.. it's a crappy job.
Sometimes i just wanna give up and go back to being a regular member, but especially at those moments it is when i'm needed and quiting would likely result in other people getting more work. Sure i'm replaceable, quite well in this guild too be honest.. but perhaps those who could are actually smarter then me and have decided to enjoy the game instead of trying to be a sorry excuse for an officer.

I respect my fellow officers, i can't always agree with them but thats actually a good thing. Important is to find a sollution a majority will agree upon. (I believe a perfect sollution just doesn't exist, the trick is to find a color that matches your skintone)
GM or Council? I'm sure both ways can work altho i wouldn't want a GM's job in a somewhat bigger raidguild.
Sometimes i long back to those days where was just playing singleplayer games, not worrying about other players and just enjoying the game flying solo.... aaaahhh, those were the days.