Passing the Baton: Part I

When I ran track in high school, I learned that relay races are won or lost during the handoff of the baton. In November of 2022, Disney terminated their CEO, Bob Chapek, and brought back Bob Iger, their previous CEO.

Although there was a lot of focus on Chapek’s failures, in my opinion, the biggest failure was Iger’s mistakes. Iger was the chairman of the board and handpicked his successor, and Iger was paid $10 million to coach Chapek. Yet, the handoff failed.

In Matthew 16:18, Jesus selected his successor when He said, “You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Jesus followed his early statement by listing the power that would be transferred to Peter. He would “give you [Peter] the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you [Peter] bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be.”

Jesus carefully selected and raised Peter to be an effective leader and use the gifts properly. Even in his failure, Peter was being molded into a legendary successor in Jesus’s ministry.

Jesus very successfully passed the baton. In this series, we will examine what we can learn from Jesus’ example.

Questions for Reflection

• Have you been a successor? How did the transition go? What would you do differently if you could do it again? What was a successful transition you have seen? What do you think made it successful?
• Are there going to be any transitions in your business’s future? Should there be? How might your business grow with a shift in leadership?