Passing the Baton: Managing the Process of Chief Executive Officer Succession

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If an older or more mature believer has built into your faith and spiritual growth, write or call her, thanking her for specific ways she’s invested in your life. Part Two Study While the idiom suggests a smooth transition, akin to relay runners passing a baton, real-life situations may involve complications or challenges in the process. Teaching a group how to pass the relay baton can prove to be an exercise in slowing down as much as it is speeding up the changeover. To properly develop technique, young athletes need to be walked through the process. The governor of the Bank of America resigns this month, passing on the baton to one of his closest associates.

It’s a big responsibility to be a good role model for your kids. When you pass the baton to the next generation, you want them to grow up with the same morals and values.” What have you learned from the life of Paul that was most personally meaningful to you? Why did it impact you? The phrase suggests the handing over of responsibilities or a role to another person or group. It often refers to transitions in leadership or power. For example, a retiring CEO might pass the baton to a successor, or a relay racer hands over the baton to the next runner in line.

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This is a gracious investment where the training pastor understands his own shortcomings and weakness and does not mold other men to be copycats therby replicating his own weaknesses. Pass the torch originates from the Greek race of passing the torch, which we commemorate through the modern competition of the Olympics. A similar thing happens as spiritual values are passed from one generation to the next. Each one looks to the preceding generation to see how the race is run. And each generation brings to the one that follows either a head start or a handicap. Look at these verses from Paul's letter to a young pastor named Timothy: "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." Good baton passers are like “guides on the side, not sages on the stage.” They do all they can to facilitate successful hand-offs, but ultimately, they must let go to allow the next runners to find their own strides. The best teachers and parents don’t always have all the best answers – the best teachers and parents ask the best questions. Work on finding the right questions, share those questions, then trust that because subsequent runners have prepared well and been prepared well, they can find their own answers with the help of heaven.

Paul discipled whole congregations and mentored future church leaders. Among the latter were Titus and Timothy, younger men whom Paul sent out to report on and then pastor church plants. Paul continued mentoring them as church leaders by writing them personal letters. If our timeline is correct, he likely wrote his first letter to Timothy and the one to Titus at some point after his release from the Roman imprisonment described at the end of Acts. (He also wrote Philemon during this time frame, but with a different purpose.) Paul’s final epistle was his second to Timothy, written while he was imprisoned in Rome not long before his execution. Jesus trained Peter, built Peter and mentored Peter. Peter went with Jesus to places and got exposed to things that the other disciples didn’t. Jesus was getting His successor ready. Peter was about to step into leadership because Jesus’ job was over! Jesus’ job was to lay the FOUNDATION, Peter’s job was to take the ministry FURTHER. The job of a predecessor is to lay the FOUNDATION, it’s the successor’s job to move the organization FORWARD! I’ve come to the conclusion that leadership isn’t a sprint, it’s a relay race. Just like in a relay race- you have to pass the baton! Leading is seasonal but leadership is permanent. What do I mean this? Leading in an organization isn’t forever (you’ll either experience being fired, replaced, you may retire, you may resign from a job or you may die)- leading isn’t forever but you’ll always be a leader! A position, title or power doesn’t make you a leader- how you THINK is what makes you a leader! The moment you stop thinking you’re a leader is the moment you’ll stop being a leader! Leading is seasonal. This is a hard lesson to grasp but it’s true. The predecessor has to pass the baton to his successor. Moses had to pass the baton to Joshua. Moses’ job was over! His job was to lay the FOUNDATION, Joshua’s job was to take it FURTHER! Moses’ job was to get the Israelites out of Egypt and get them started on their journey. Joshua’s job was to get the people the rest of the way- to the Promised Land that Moses envisioned. Joshua never let go of the vision of his predecessor. Moses was the visionary but Joshua was the one who was next! Moses and Jesus both laid the foundation and desired their successor to take it forward! Jesus told His disciples “ GREATER” works than these shall you do! Jesus wanted His disciples to do GREATER than He did. He wanted them to be GREATER than He was. Great leaders are not intimidated by their successors! They want you to be GREATER! That takes maturity! Insecure leaders don’t want others to be greater than them! Predecessors: if your successor is greater than you that means you BOTH win! You trained them to be greater than you! Plus the successor has the DNA of the predecessor. We both win! Don’t be like Saul who was jealous and intimidated by David! We should want our successors to be greater than us! In a relay race one person doesn’t win- a team wins through successful baton passing. That's what the Lord calls for in Deuteronomy 6, where we read: "These commandments I give to you today are to be on your hearts. Impresss them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." The disciples had to first get up to speed before they could take the baton. Jesus spent three years preparing them to become apostles. Without His teachings, parables, mentoring and witnessing upon His death, the momentum of Jesus’ ministry would have stumbled. Jesus prepared the disciples (Luke 9:1-6) as well as the foundation of the early church (Luke 10:1-12) by sending them out to represent the Christian mission, prior to them accepting His baton. Every week we are sent out in this same way to pass the baton of our faith. ‘Mass’ receives its name from the Latin phrase Ite missa est meaning “Go you are sent” forth on a mission.

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I know a woman who wasn't raised in a believing home, but every summer she would spend several weeks visiting her relatives in the country. She had two aunts, both of whom were single, and both were believers. Those aunts would spend those weeks loving that niece of theirs, taking her to the swimming hole and to Sunday school, and sharing their faith as they sat at home and walked along the way. Finally, as a teenager, that young woman came to personal faith in Christ. If Jesus didn’t leave we wouldn’t have been able to receive the Holy Spirit and Peter wouldn’t be able to lead the church. The disciples were about to start leading- everything Jesus taught them those three years they were about to put into practice. The disciples had to first be led before they could lead. They started out as disciples then they became apostles. The problem I see in this world is that too many people want to lead when they haven’t be led! You can’t be a great leader if you aren’t a great follower! The disciples followed Jesus then they became leaders! Do you see what Jesus left behind when He left? Like Myles Munroe once said, “ Jesus didn’t leave behind a program or a build- Jesus left behind people… He left behind LEADERS !” The legacy of a true leader is the reproduction of other leaders. Jesus’ legacy was leaders! Reproducing more of Himself was His legacy. Your leadership legacy is in reproducing more leaders! We have to build more leaders! Our legacy should be leaving leaders behind! Jesus took disciples (followers) and turn them into apostles (leaders). Jesus made Peter His successor. Succession Lessons We Can Learn From Jesus… You can use the phrase “pass the baton” when you’re telling someone that you want to carry on their work or legacy. It’s a way of telling the other person it’s time to let go and let you handle things. The expression suits social and professional use.

What encouragement or challenge from Paul to Timothy concerning the gospel or your faith speaks to you today? Why? Before we move to the third part of this week’s study and leave our focus on passing the baton behind, here’s a final story from a woman who benefitted from the investment of an older, more mature believer and then became a mentor to others. A Runner’s Story: Bob Ann Verbal cues allow the handover to be taken smoothly and this exercise allows you to correct the posture of runners. The jogging drill In our opening scripture, Jesus was predicting His death and He told His disciples that He had to leave. When He told them, there was some resistance. Peter didn’t want Jesus to leave! He didn’t want their friendship to end. Ministry builds friendships. Peter was with Jesus everyday for three years straight and now he’s going to have to readjust. For many, seeing Jesus have to leave and die was like seeing another prophet killed. But for Peter seeing Jesus leave was seeing His friend, leader and mentor leave. Peter didn’t want to see Jesus leave and the truth is Jesus didn’t want to leave either! After Jesus died and rose from the grave- the Bible says Jesus lingered 40 more days. After His resurrection He stayed 40 more days with His boys before going to be with the Father. Jesus didn’t want to leave BUT He had to leave. Two Things Came After Jesus Left…Pass the baton and forget about it. There’s no reason to hold onto it. It’s out of your control now.” The phrase has nothing to do with passing batons. In this case, the baton can represent a project, heirloom, or something of value to a person. The action of passing the baton means that the person is abdicating or delegating the responsibility they have in life to another person they trust. Acceptable Ways to Phrase Pass the Baton The phrase "pass the baton" is believed to have originated from the Olympic relay race. It symbolizes the importance of teamwork and collaboration in achieving a common goal. This concept is embodied by passing an emblematic baton from one competitor to another. Historical Example