A: What did the boss say at the meeting yesterday?

B: He told us, “Don’t drop the baton, keep your chin up and work hard.”

Note: The idiom means that someone has made a mistake or failed to perform a duty and as a result let others down. In a relay race, a baton is passed from one runner to the next until each team member has carried the baton for his or her portion of the race. The first runner continues to run up to the second runner who runs just in front and reaches back to grab the baton. It is tricky because they both try to maintain the speed. If the baton is dropped when being passed, it is unlikely that the team will win as they have to stop, pick it up and try to get back to speed. When the expression is used metaphorically, the person “dropping the baton” has not done his or her part and has let down the team.