Since Directors & Boards was founded in 1976, our mission has been to “see around corners” and help directors provide the best possible service to their shareholders. To achieve this, this journal has been “peer-to-peer” platform for dialog linking top directors with top advisors and service providers. Our writers are experts anxious to share experience, perspective, interpretation and wisdom with our readers.

The Governance Year in Review issue is our opportunity to reflect on the year just past, with the month-by-month timeline of 2014 as the centerpiece of our look back. What I like to do for my editor’s note in this special issue is assemble a top 10 list of keenly observed comments on board leadership made by authors in their 2014 articles.

It makes for a tough cut, but here goes:

As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) prepares to issue final recommendations on its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project at year-end 2015, board members of multinational companies should focus attention on issues stemming from the project that could potentially have a far-reaching impact on their organization’s reputation, finances, or operations.

The duty of care sits at the core of directors’ obligations under corporate law. When evaluating a course of action or making a decision, directors have the duty to use that care which “ordinarily careful and prudent persons would use in similar circumstances.” This includes the obligation to inform themselves, before acting, of all relevant material information reasonably available to them.