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.

In business, intellectual property can (and often does) represent a major part of a company's value. Entrepreneurs must therefore be alert to preserving and protecting the intellectual property rights of their businesses against infringement. They also need to understand how the principal forms of intellectual property rights (patents, copyrights, and trademarks) operate in the everyday business world.

Building downtime into your schedule can help you recharge your battery, manage stress, and keep perspective. During these moments of downtime, it is important to completely step away from your work obligations (that means silencing your smartphone!) and focus on the activities that bring you personal fulfillment. Making time for these activities is essential for avoiding burnout.

Search engines will reward websites that contain relevant content related to a keyword search by ranking those websites higher in search results. A website will also want to use those targeted keywords in a way that will raise the page's visibility with various search engines.

Have you ever purchased a product based on the recommendation of a friend, family member, or colleague? It's an accepted principle of marketing that consumers tend to trust and follow personal recommendations—usually from family and friends—more than they trust traditional advertising messages. And, in the digital age, a growing number of consumers are also following advice and recommendations from people they don't know but still trust: influencers.

Organizations have always faced the need to change, but—with the current rate of technological change, intense competitive pressures, shift to a knowledge-based economy, and globalization—change has become more common and even more crucial to success. As such, leading change is an important skill for managers.

While many management experts have estimated that some 70 percent of change initiatives fail, more recent research suggests that finding valid and reliable empirical evidence of such a failure rate is problematic.

Writing grants is often a critical part of gaining funding for any nonprofit organization's mission. Strategic grant writing aligns the needs of a nonprofit with funding sources, whether foundations, government agencies, corporations, or individuals. The Skye introductory-level course offers a guide to the basics of grant writing.

What behaviors and traits do successful entrepreneurs share? Research at Harvard Business School by Lynda Applegate, Janet Kraus, and Timothy Butler suggests that of eleven dimensions of entrepreneurship, founders (successful entrepreneurs) commonly excel in five key areas. The following infographic outlines those dimensions.