follow in the footsteps of

To pursue something that someone else (often a family member) has already done. I plan to follow in the footsteps of my father and study engineering in college. We are following in the footsteps of all the members of the sorority that came before us!

To succeed someone; to accept someone as an exemplary master or guide. This same idea was expressed in the Bible, in the first Book of Peter (2:21), “Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps,” as well as in the Christmas carol, “Good King Wenceslas,” by John Mason Neale (1818–66), “Mark my footsteps, good my page, tread thou in them boldly.” A more sinister meaning also exists, namely in guerrilla warfare, where troops march single file, each stepping into the footprints of the one before, with the last warrior obliterating all the prints. This practice was used by American Indians in the French and Indian wars of the eighteenth century and consequently was called Indian file. See also hard act to follow.