Lessons from sports, such as the recent Mariners-Red Sox series as well as the success of the late legendary football coach Bill Walsh, serve as great metaphors for business success, including strategic management.

As an armchair baseball manager – make no mistake – I’m a devout Mariners fan. But it seemed obvious last weekend that two of the games provided lessons applicable for business. Indeed, prior press accounts regarding some of the Mariners’ negative reaction to the Adam Jones call-up from AAA, being platooned and their poor play, made me wonder about their morale. Conversely, prior to the games, the two Boston stars, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, were loose and amiable with their teammates and Mariners, alike.

No, the Mariners’ losses didn’t necessarily stem from the new platoon strategy itself, which is historically effective. The two losses resulted from bad luck, a lack of individual motivation by certain players, weak hitting and errors. Certainly game plans went awry.

Casey Stengel was quite the innovator and taught us wonderful lessons about platooning when he managed the Yankees for three decades starting in the 1940s. Stengel and his influence were as well-known as his legendary players, including slugger Mickey Mantle.

Stengel said it best: “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.”

Stengel, perhaps unknowingly, provided another insight about management strategy: “If we're going to win the pennant, we've got to start thinking we're not as good as we think we are.”

Innovation is also a lesson from the late Bill Walsh, the visionary Hall of Fame football coach, who guided the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles.

Two of Walsh’s keys to success: 1. Daily, he relentlessly assessed both his team’s and personal performance. 2. He knew talent and was close with his players, but he was clinically objective. Walsh knew when his players were through in their careers. For the overall good of the 49ers, he’d rather see a player retire too early instead of waiting too late to hang up the uniform.

There was another benefit to his innovative approach: His players were aware of his philosophy and played more efficiently to keep their jobs.

Such sports examples coincide with a business lesson in strategic management from another noted Boston-based organization, the Boston Consulting Group.

Even though business executives consider innovation to be a key to success, only 46 percent were happy with their returns on innovation spending, according to the firm’s survey on innovation from 2001 to 2006.

The study involving responses from 2,500 executives, serves to suggest methods to obtain the right resources to solve problems.

The study’s obstacles to success include:

Thirty-eight percent of respondents cited their risk-averse culture.

One-third identified problems in selecting the right ideas and 34 pinpointed lack of coordination.

Twenty-six percent admitted to not knowing the desires of customers.

Twenty-two percent acknowledged their inability to measure performance and 19 percent failed to connect compensation with innovation results.

Nineteen percent concluded they were lacking in management support and leadership.

Eighteen percent admitted they had unsatisfactory marketing and communications.

Seventeen percent said they didn’t have enough good ideas.

To solve these quandaries: Solutions will result from a state-of-the-art human resources program, combined with marketing input.

And my sense is that such executives might also want to read a college textbook, “Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach,” by University of Washington’s Dr. Charles W. L. Hill and Texas A&M University’s Dr. Gareth R. Jones.

Just as consumers like one-stop shopping at Costco or Fred Meyer, the book is an adequate source for learning a host of business solutions.

Its 647-pages are chock full of case studies of well-known businesses on customer satisfaction, efficiency, innovation and quality. In fact, at least 38 authors have cited the book for solutions. They range from developing trends in performance and competitive advantage to business strategy and technology.

For example, the authors wrote: “The major components of the strategic management process are defining the mission and major goals of the organization; analyzing the external and internal environments of the organization; choosing a business model and strategies that align or fit an organization's strengths and weaknesses with external environmental opportunities and threats; and adopting organizational structures and control systems to implement the organization's chosen strategy.”

Do you capitalize on your organizational wisdom where your proverbial tires meet the road? Talk with your customers and lower-level workers.

“A revision of the concept suggests that strategy can emerge from deep within an organization in the absence of formal plans as lower-level managers respond to unpredicted situations,” wrote the authors.

“Strategic planning often fails because executives do not plan for uncertainty and because ivory tower planners lose touch with operating realities,” they pointed out.

Therefore, my sense is that strategic management often fails because companies fail to successfully answer this nagging question: Are the right managers in place?

Many organizations fail to reach their potential because they’re guilty of ignoring The Peter Principle. That’s the theory first introduced by Lawrence Peter, who received his doctorate from Washington State University in 1963.

In 1968, he wrote his book, “The Peter Principle,” in which he theorizes: “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

Consider your own career: How many times have you worked for incompetent bosses?

Just because an employee is adequate in one capacity, does not mean the person is competent at a higher level. Often, companies will promote salespeople into management without adequate education or training.

In essence, violation of The Peter Principle leads to the downfall of organizations.

As Biz Coach, I regularly hear from readers about poor management. As a management consultant, I’ve seen it many times in both the private and public sector.

The temporary solution in medium to large organizations is what Peter calls “lateral arabesque.” That means moving the incompetent employee laterally to another position to prevent further damage to the organization.

The long-term solution is two-fold: Hire the right people and conduct tactical performance reviews to lay a foundation for up-to-date strategic management.

From the Coach’s Corner, from my bookshelf, here’s a management book you might wish to consider: “Perspectives on Strategy.” It’s also from the Boston Consulting Group. It has many terrific insights.