In his bestselling book Moneyball, Michael Lewis showed how concepts like risk management and statistical analysis could be used to successfully pick ballplayers—so successfully that Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, the book's main subject, has grumbled that baseball front offices now "look like the Goldman Sachs arbitrage desk."

But if baseball has learned a thing or two from business, it may well be the case that corporate America could take a page from the talent evaluation and development techniques used by major-league scouts.

Jonathan Story, a former minor-league player who began his scouting career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1995 and now teaches a course in general managing and scouting for Sports Management Worldwide, points out that the team-oriented, developmental approach used by scouts fits well with a business environment that increasingly emphasizes collaboration and specialization.

"It used to be that businesses would fight over the candidate who looked best on paper," says Story. "Now, most people recognize that you have to do more than just grab superstar talent; you have to hire with the team and the future in mind."

Norm Kamikow, editor in chief of Talent Management magazine, agrees. "You look at world-class companies like G.E., and they'll hire junior execs, put them into the pipeline, and not do anything with them for 18 to 24 months except follow their progress and evaluate their potential," he says. "It means they always have a 'farm team' to draw from if they need to fill a critical management role, and the developmental approach gives them the time to sift the gold from the sand."

Story's baseball experience leads him to make four recommendations for corporate managers who want to hit a home run with their hiring.

Stats and Résumés Aren't Everything
As much as Moneyball-type statistical analysis has changed baseball, it hasn't eclipsed the need for more holistic methods of talent evaluation. "There are guys out there who think you can assess players from behind a laptop, but just looking at stats won't tell you anything about makeup and work ethic," says Story.

Story says he learns more about players by visiting them at their homes and chatting with school teammates than in formal interviews, where they're on their best behavior. And while that kind of interviewing is not a practical option for corporate managers, it makes sense to interact with late-stage candidates in a more casual environment.

"You're making a huge investment when you hire someone, so the more you know about them, the better," agrees Kamikow. One place managers should definitely look to get a sense for how candidates are in an informal setting is the internet. "If you don't [use] Google, Facebook, and MySpace [to screen] your candidates, you're being stupid," he says.