Uncertainty has always been the job

I’m in my 20s and I analyse equities for a living. Most of my day is spent thinking about risk. Where it lives inside a business, what could go wrong and, importantly, what stands in the way of it going wrong.

So, when the world outside my screen behaves as it usually does – geopolitical tensions rising, markets rattling, artificial intelligence threatening to reshape jobs, mine included; I find myself less afraid than most might expect.

Not because the risks aren’t real. They are.

But because uncertainty has always been the job.

The truth is, there has never been a truly calm era. Only eras we can now interpret clearly in hindsight.

There’s a line I heard often in investment meetings long before I knew its origin: “The four most dangerous words in investing are: this time it’s different.”

It’s attributed to Sir John Templeton, but I first understood its meaning from the people around me.

Every generation believes their moment of uncertainty is uniquely catastrophic. History almost always disagrees. The investors who stayed the course; thoughtfully, not blindly were usually better off for it.

So, what does “staying the course” actually look like?

In my work, I’ve been exposed to two distinct equity philosophies, each approaching risk in its own way.

The first is patient and deliberate. It focuses on a concentrated selection of high-quality global companies, chosen with conviction and built to compound over time. This approach doesn’t react to headlines. It absorbs them and keeps moving forward.

The second takes a different stance. It sees disruption not as something to manage, but as something to embrace. Artificial intelligence, clean energy, healthcare innovation, the very forces unsettling markets are the same ones this philosophy backs with intent.

Two different approaches. One shared discipline: understand the risk, understand what stands in its way, then act with purpose.

There’s something grounding about working within an institution that has navigated more than a century of change. Longevity alone doesn’t guarantee wisdom. Endurance on that scale requires a repeatable way of thinking. One that doesn’t panic when the world shifts, but adapts, stays curious and focuses on what truly endures.

I’m learning from people who have seen more market cycles than I’ve had birthdays. That perspective matters.

Still, experience only goes so far.

No chart, model or past cycle can tell you exactly what tomorrow holds. That isn’t a flaw in investing. It’s the nature of it.

Perhaps that’s what makes this industry so compelling. No matter how much you know, tomorrow is something we all experience for the first time, together.