Surgical education in 2019 faces may challenges to maintain the high standards of excellence achieved in prior generations of learners and trainers in cardiothoracic surgery. This compendium hopes to review the current and future strategies in surgical education. The topics include the adult learner, assessing competence, providing formative feedback, developing strategies to minimize implicit bias, optimizing education in the operating room, effective classroom teaching, the future of e-learning, the alternative curriculum, teaching mentorship and coaching, deliberate practice and simulation, faculty development, the potential roles of virtual and augmented reality, and the impact artificial intelligence might have on surgical education in the future.