During the Olympics there were two US relay teams that dropped the baton in the trials.  What a tragedy for these two teams who had worked so hard to get to the point of competing on a world stage.  In fact, relay runners spend hours practicing passing the baton.  Why is the baton so important?  Because in their events they have to pass the leadership on to others for success.  Each individual can only do so much before relying on others to complete the task.  They learned a hard lesson that many leaders fail to learn: the importance of passing the baton. 

I think there's a temptation in leadership to keep the baton for yourself.  This temptation comes from a lot of different things, such as a love of the spotlight, a distrust of the abilities of others, and on and on.  The truth of the matter is that unless batons are passed within an organization (or in my case, the church), then progress can't be made.  A leader is not indispensable, and one day he or she will not be around.  If those underneath him or her aren't being trained to receive the baton, then it will be dropped, and the results will be devastating. 

If you're in leadership, are you working on passing the baton to others?  When the time comes to pass it, will they be ready to receive it?  If not, then you're probably not a very good leader.