Overseeing a company is no small task. Disruptive technologies are changing companies’ business models, geopolitical turmoil is impacting supply chains and investment opportunities, and increased regulatory complexity is affecting innovation. Institutional investors and shareholder activists are also playing a more powerful role shaping corporate governance. Boards of directors have to keep up with all of these changes in order to be effective.

An actively engaged board is able to identify and act upon weak signals that could indicate a need for change. Its composition and operations reflect the evolving needs of the business.

Andy Fastow is the disgraced ex-chief financial officer of Enron, the company that led to a corporate scandal so monstrous that the company’s name now evokes all that is wrong with American business. After 5 years in prison, he now teaches ethics and offers advice that every board should adhere to to avoid becoming the next corporate casualty.

Advisory boards are all the rage right now. A startup can make headlines by appointing a tech veteran to their advisory board, and a pedigreed advisory board can become a selling point in establishing market credibility.

The amount of time board directors spend on their work and commit to strategy is rising. But in a new survey, few respondents rate their boards as effective at most tasks or report good feedback or training practices.

Lonergan Partners have produced a fascinating in-depth profile of the boards and directors governing the top 150 public companies in technology in Silicon Valley (the SV150).