AO Nominating Committee members and AO Officers shaping inclusive leadership

Leadership decisions in the AO shape our culture and directly influence innovation, education, research, and patient outcomes. Whether you are currently serving on an AO Nominating Committee, hold an AO Officer role, or are simply interested in how surgeon leaders are selected, your awareness and engagement in these processes matter.

To support those involved in leadership selection and to inform all faculty interested in inclusive leadership, AO Access has launched a new training module: The Power of Choice: Guiding Principles for AO Nominating Committees and AO Officers, a one-hour, self-paced online course designed to foster the consistent application of fair, transparent, and competency-based selection practices.

The module includes targeted exercises developed to help AO NomCom members and AO Officers focus on selecting candidates based on competencies, as well as practical strategies to recognize and reduce any biases, ensuring that opportunities are equally offered on objective criteria as well as fair access to progression for all.

To attract the most qualified candidates, AO Nomination Committees and anyone engaged in elections such as AO Officers are expected to follow three guiding principles that ensure equity, transparency, and alignment with the AO’s global and inclusive mission. Included in the module is the AO NomCom checklist emphasizing both individual responsibility and systemic structures that embed fairness and sustainability across the AO’s leadership processes.

Under the leadership of Tim Pohlemann, AO Immediate Past President and AO Access Steering Committee chairperson, with the endorsement of the AO Foundation Board (AO FB), this module is part of the initiative to drive sustainable change, embedding inclusion, accountability, and transparency at every level of AO leadership.

Inclusive, objective leadership is not optional; it’s essential to the AO’s future.