St. Anne's News
Build your optionality: a message for students navigating an uncertain world
When Stephen Poloz speaks about the future, he does not offer predictions. He offers preparation.
That was the central message delivered to Upper School students from St. Andrew’s and Grade 11 and 12 students from St. Anne’s during a fireside chat with the former Governor of the Bank of Canada. His advice was clear: learn how to learn, stay grounded in facts, and make choices that keep your future open.
It was a timely and resonant message for students growing up amid rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, and constant online noise.
“Every decision you make should either increase your options for the future or reduce them,” Stephen said. “Try to build more optionality.”
That perspective is shaped by experience. Over a career spanning nearly four decades, Stephen has worked at the highest levels of Canada’s financial and economic system, including seven years as the ninth Governor of the Bank of Canada. In that role, he helped guide the country through periods of global volatility, including the earliest and most uncertain days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of his most practical lessons, however, had nothing to do with economics textbooks. Stephen spoke candidly about the importance of staying informed, not just through social media feeds, but by engaging with credible journalism and multiple perspectives.
Understanding what other people think is happening, he told students, is essential to good judgment and leadership. In a world flooded with opinions, discernment becomes a critical skill.
Addressing questions about artificial intelligence and the future of work, Stephen placed today’s moment within a longer historical arc. From the steam engine to electricity to computers and the internet, every major technological shift has disrupted jobs and ultimately created new ones.
The constant, he argued, is not the job itself, but the ability to adapt. That is why schools matter, not only for what students learn, but for teaching them how to learn.
“Build your optionality” was a phrase he returned to repeatedly, and the one that stayed with students.
“Think of your future like a menu,” Stephen explained. “You do not want only four options. You want many, even if you do not know yet which one you will choose.”
Conversations, curiosity, and exposure to different fields, he noted, help keep those options open and build the flexibility needed to adapt as the world changes.
Reflecting on the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Stephen shared what it was like to make high-stakes decisions as uncertainty escalated by the hour. His lesson was simple but powerful: calm is not accidental. It is practiced. In moments of real challenge, leaders are defined less by certainty than by clarity, steadiness, and the willingness to act decisively when it matters.
As the conversation concluded, Stephen offered two ideas he hopes students carry forward: stay informed and keep building options. In a world that will continue to change, sometimes abruptly, those habits form the basis of resilience, leadership, and meaningful opportunity.
We are grateful to Stephen Poloz for sharing his insight and experience, and to the community members whose generosity made this meaningful conversation possible.
Empowering girls to be courageous learners and compassionate citizens who live and lead with wisdom.
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