Corporate governance is the way by which businesses are directed and controlled.

For the most part, by law and tradition, the board of directors (representing the shareholders of the company) is tasked with ensuring the business is properly and honestly managed. Board members, the CEO, and managing partners have a fiduciary duty to protect the interest of shareholders.

Several board committees (the audit committee and the compensation committee) are generally involved in oversight of some of the most significant governance issues: whether the enterprise complies with accounting and ethical standards, and whether its leaders are being properly compensated and provided financial incentives for improving performance.

Johanna Rothman is the owner of Rothman Consulting Group, through which she has coached product developers, led Agile transformations, and improved projects, programs, and organizations for over 26 years. She has also written a large collection of books about project management and the workplace.

Prior to consulting, Rothman was a software engineer who served as a project leader, program manager, and director at Boston Technology. She is a longtime contributor to Skye Learning courseware, providing expert commentary for Introduction to Agile, Principles of Scrum, PMP® Exam Prep Course, and more.

In this job market, candidates need every advantage they can get to stand out, and a well-crafted resume is crucial. Producing the best possible resume requires knowing its function--to get you into the pile of candidates who will be considered further.

When writing your resume, it’s important to recognize that the hiring manager may be fielding hundreds of resumes for a position in addition to their regular job duties. Each resume, therefore, will receive only a cursory glance to determine the candidate’s qualifications. Your resume should be designed to make it easy for a hiring manager to learn your professional accomplishments at a glance. To that end, follow a few rules to ensure your application isn’t overlooked.

Few things are more important to human activity than leadership. Effective leadership makes a business organization successful. It enables a not-for-profit organization to fulfill its mission. The effective leadership of parents enables children to grow into independent and productive adults. But for all leaders, abiding by ethical standards is vital.

What are the characteristics of an ethical leader? If you were asked to list the qualities and behaviors of leaders who live out their values, what characteristics would you cite?

Audit functions are not only good for troubleshooting a system but also for analyzing logs that can help uncover malicious activity in the form of insider breaches or outsider intrusions. In an investigation, audit logs help verify whether the security policy was adhered to and how an employee may have been involved in a security violation. All root and administrator activities should also be logged, and the size of all logs kept to a manageable size. Actions that should be logged include user-level events, application-level events, and system-level events.

Social media is a powerful marketing tool. Whether you’re looking to bring awareness to your brand, generate leads, or sell products, social media can help you achieve your marketing goal. Although social media marketing can widen your reach, it can also backfire if not done with care. Here are 5 social media marketing mistakes you’ll want to make sure to avoid.

The common approach to meeting the challenges of managing data is to map the process of creating and using data to a lifecycle. This is sometimes referred to as data lifecycle management (DLM) or information lifecycle management (ILM).

The purpose of such an approach is to allow an organization to identify the distinct phases data goes through, and then within each step or phase, to identify different security controls that should be in place.

Buyers are evolving faster than sellers.

A major factor in the growing gap between buyer and seller is the rise of millennial decision-makers. There are more than 11 million Millennials worldwide on LinkedIn alone. Mobile technology, increased information, more market transparency, and data analytics are some of the elements shaping how Millennials make buying decisions for their organizations. Sellers must adapt to the following shifts in order to win the attention, business, and loyalty of millennial buyers. Check out our latest infographic for five need-to-know characteristics of millennial buyers.

Dreams of financial independence and career flexibility drive many people to start new businesses, but only half of those enterprises survive after five years. Although the payoffs can indeed be significant, many who hope to start a business underestimate the required upfront and ongoing commitment to maintain the business.

Check out our latest infographic and learn about some of the challenges you might face when starting your own business.

Small business, which is defined by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a company with fewer than 500 employees, is vital to the health of the U.S. economy. Today, more than half of America's workers either own or work for a small business. 

Why do people want to own or manage a small business? They'll tell you that running a small business lets you control your own destiny. You get to pick the people you work with. You establish your own work-life balance. You decide how much risk you want to take. And you enjoy the rewards of success.