Name: Pinterest CEO Bill Ready 提早學會了這件事 — 這也造就了他最艱難的決定！ (Pinterest CEO Bill Ready Learned This Early — And It Shaped His Toughest Call)
Uploaded: 2026-02-03T18:29:21.000Z
Duration: 40 min 12 s

動名詞

Every leader's journey is shaped by a handful of defining decisions, those moments of risk, doubt and conviction that influence their lives and careers.

每位領導者的旅程都由幾個關鍵決策形塑，那些影響他們人生和職涯的風險、疑慮與信念的時刻。

to 不定詞

In this podcast, we get to hear the stories behind those choices.

在這個 Podcast 中，我們將聽到這些選擇背後的故事。

Welcome to Executive Decisions with me, Steve Sedgwick.

歡迎收聽《Executive Decisions》，我是 Steve Sedgwick。

In this episode, I speak to the CEO of Pinterest, Bill Ready?

這集節目，我訪問了 Pinterest 的執行長 Bill Ready。

We can get sort of trapped in the constructs of what we think is possible.

我們可能會被自己認為「可能」的框架給困住。

I actually think for all of us, so much more is possible than what we imagined.

我其實覺得對我們所有人來說，可能實現的比我們想像的還要多。

Bill grew up in a small town in Kentucky, working in his parents auto repair shop.

Bill 在肯塔基州一個小鎮長大，在父母的修車廠工作。

Become the first in his family to go to college, get a stable job and have health insurance.

成為家裡第一個上大學的人，找一份穩定的工作，並擁有健康保險。

But he went on to exceed those expectations and move from the shop floor to Harvard Business School, Silicon Valley, and

但他後來超越了這些期望，從修車廠走向哈佛商學院、矽谷，並且

The further I've gotten into my career, the more I look back and say a lot of the best lessons actually came from that little town in Kentucky, that little auto repair shop.

我越是深入我的職涯，越是回頭看，覺得很多最棒的學習其實都來自肯塔基州那個小鎮，那個小小的修車廠。

As CEO of Pinterest, Bill faced his toughest decision yet, making the platform private for users under 16.

身為 Pinterest 的執行長，Bill 面臨了他至今最艱難的決定，就是將平臺針對16歲以下用戶設為私人。

It was controversial, but it was guided by a strong sense of accountability.

這引起了爭議，但這是由強烈的責任感所引導的。

Users become sort of nameless and faceless, but

使用者變得有點像是無名無姓、沒有面孔，但是

for me, I see every single one of them staring back at me.

對我來說，我看見他們每一個人都盯著我看。

These are Bill Reddy's executive decisions.

I can't work out what you evolve to and from vc, working for the big corporations, working for small corporations, being a CEO, setting your own companies up.

我搞不清楚你從 vc、為大公司工作、為小公司工作、擔任執行長、創辦自己的公司，一路演變到現在。

I do five startups, so I would still consider myself primarily entrepreneur.

我創辦了五間新創公司，所以我還是認為自己主要是創業者。

Although I was an accidental entrepreneur.

I didn't grew up in a little town in Kentucky and you know, my aspirations were as a person, my family go to college and my aspirations were, you know, get a stable job and have health insurance with family, you know, didn't have health insurance growing up, you know, grew up in, you know, a place where, you know, I needed government assistance to get to college and things like that.

我不是在肯塔基州的小鎮長大，你知道的，我的人生目標是，我的家人上大學，我的目標是，你知道的，找一份穩定的工作，有家庭醫療保險，你知道的，小時候沒有醫療保險，你知道的，成長的地方，你知道的，我需要政府補助才能上大學等等。

So get to college, graduate, get a stable job, actually have health care for the family.

所以上大學、畢業、找一份穩定的工作、真正擁有家庭的醫療照護。

But then have ended up having the good fortune to have built, you know, multiple of those to billions of dollars in revenue.

但後來很幸運地，你知道的，打造了多家營收數十億美元的公司。

And so I've ended up running larger companies as a result of that.

是以，我也是以經營了更大的公司。

But in my heart, I'm an entrepreneur and a builder.

但我內心深處，我是一位創業者和建造者。

I know you work for the family business, the garage, and

我知道你在家族企業工作，那間修車廠，而且

Tell me about the key influences and the people you drew inspiration from when you were very young.

可以聊聊你小時候，有哪些重要的影響和讓你汲取靈感的人嗎？

Yes, My parents were, are small business owners, little auto repair shop in a small town in Kentucky.

是的，我的父母是小企業主，在肯塔基州一個小鎮經營一家小小的修車廠。

And so, you know, I grew up working there and you know, later on in life I'd get to, you know, Harvard business school and McKinsey and Silicon Valley and all those places.

所以，你知道的，我在那裡長大，後來人生中，我去了哈佛商學院、麥肯錫、矽谷這些地方。

The further I've gotten in my career, the more I look back and say a lot of the best lessons actually came from that little town in Kentucky, that little auto repair shop of just, you know, what it means to take care of customers, what it means to do the right thing by people, what it means to have a long term relationship with your customers.

我在職涯走得越遠，越會回頭看，發現很多最好的經驗其實都來自肯塔基州那個小鎮，那個小小的修車廠，關於如何照顧客戶、如何做對的事、如何與客戶建立長期的關係。

And, you know, and so those were instilled pretty early on.

I always say I started working out a repair shop when I was 13, but

我常說我13歲開始在修車廠工作，但

Before that, I paint the building and, you know, repave the asphalt and started like 7 or 8 years old.

在那之前，我會粉刷牆壁、鋪柏油，大概七八歲就開始做了。

So hard work was a must from the beginning.

所以從一開始，努力工作就是必須的。

你喜歡那段努力工作的時光嗎？

So again, these are things like the more time goes by, the more I appreciate how valuable these things were.

所以，隨著時間過去，我越發體會到這些事情的珍貴。

You know, at the time I was like, oh, my friends are getting to do all these other things and I'm here working, drive by while I'm out there, you know, sort of, you know, working in sort of wave and thinking, oh, wow, I wish I was doing that.

說真的，那時候我會覺得，唉，我的朋友們可以做其他很多事，而我卻在這裡工作，開車經過時，你知道，有點，你知道，在浪潮中工作，心想，哇，我希望我也能做那樣的事。

And I look back now like, oh no, those are like really important lessons.

但現在回想起來，喔，不，那些真的是很重要的課題。

So there's no way you could have been successful as you've been in Silicon Valley and elsewhere and these extraordinary companies you've worked with for and created if you didn't have a strong work ethic as well.

所以，如果你沒有強烈的工作倫理，你不可能在矽谷和其他地方，以及你合作並創辦的這些非凡公司裡取得你現在的成功。

Has that been instilled in you that actually a job isn't just 9 to 5?

這是不是已經內化到你心裡，一份工作不只是朝九晚五？

I mean, I would say, you know, for my family, a lot of it was just necessity, but

我想說，你知道，對我的家庭來說，很多都是出於必要，但是

I think the work ethic was definitely there.

我覺得工作倫理絕對是存在的。

You know, my dad woke me up to the Navy reveille every morning for, you know, 18 years, just about.

我爸每天早上六點用海軍的起床號叫我起床，大概有十八年了。

So there are definitely things like that.

You know, that little town in Kentucky was just outside of Fort Knox, so grew up outside of a military base.

我家那小鎮就在諾克斯堡外面，所以是在軍營附近長大的。

And so a lot of those things, you know, sort of in terms of discipline and work ethic sort of rubbed off in that.

所以很多這些，像是紀律和工作倫理，就這樣慢慢地影響了我。

But a lot of it is, you know, hard work out of necessity just because it was, you know.

但很多時候，你知道，純粹是出於必要而努力工作，因為就是這樣。

You know, I always talk about the link to doing good things for customers is sort of, you know, instilled in an early age because we literally, you know, if we took good care of customers and business was good, then we ate well, if things weren't going great with customers, you know, then it was, you know, we go to the grocery store on the other side of town where, you know, the meat was only expired by a few days and probably wouldn't make you sick.

我常說，對顧客好這件事，從小時候就根深蒂固了，因為我們真的，你知道，如果我們好好對待顧客，生意就好，我們就有好吃的；如果跟顧客的關係不好，你知道，我們就得去鎮上另一邊的超市，那裡的肉大概只過期幾天，吃了應該也不會怎樣。

So that linkage of like, hey, take care of customers and good things happen for you was sort of there for long, but

所以，好好對待顧客就會有好事發生，這個連結一直都在，

But I actually think, you know, as an entrepreneur, one of the things back to, like, lessons I didn't realize were such powerful lessons then necessity is the mother of invention.

但我其實覺得，你知道，作為一個創業者，其中一件事，回到當時我沒意識到這麼重要的教訓，就是「Necessity is the mother of invention」（需求是發明之母）。

You know, I'm a huge believer in the theory of constraints like Silicon Valley.

你知道，我非常相信像矽谷這樣的限制理論。

You know, so much of Silicon Valley, people talk about tech titans and things.

你知道，矽谷的很多地方，人們都在談論科技巨頭之類的事情。

Now, the story of Silicon Valley is not one of titans.

現在，矽谷的故事並不是關於巨頭的故事。

The story of Silicon Valley is one of, oh, an upstart with, you know, no resources, but, you know, a lot of imagination, a lot of hard work, and

矽谷的故事是關於，哦，一個新手，你知道，沒有資源，但是，你知道，有豐富的想像力、大量的努力工作，

a lot of ingenuity can go take on massive incumbents.

以及大量的獨創性，可以去挑戰龐大的現有企業。

Tell me about taking responsibility as well of your mistakes.

跟我談談為你的錯誤承擔責任。

So I was 13, had just started, you know, actually

所以，我那時候13歲，剛開始，你知道，實際上

working on cars in the shop, and I had messed up on a farmer's truck and actually donated.

在修車廠裡修車，我弄壞了一位農夫的卡車，而且還捐贈了。

It sort of actually less the mistake itself, but

more that we're going to need to keep it for an extra day for me to.

To sort of redo the work that I had done.

And, you know, I'm sort of expecting my parents to go explain to him what I'd done.

然後，你知道，我本來以為我父母會去跟他解釋我做了什麼。

I said, no, no, you go tell them what you did and what you do to make it right.

我說，不，不，你親自去告訴他你做了什麼，以及你會怎麼彌補。

And, you know, as I tell the story, people oftentimes imagine it's going to be like a Norman Rockwell painting or something where the farm's, oh, son, it's all right.

然後，你知道，我講這個故事時，大家常常想像會像諾曼·洛克威爾的畫一樣，農夫會說，哦，孩子，沒關係。

No, he needed that truck for his livelihood.

不，他需要那臺卡車來維持生計。

Like, that was, you know, it was a place where, like, most people were living paycheck to paycheck, and

就像，你知道，那裡大多數人都過著月光族的生活，

he needed that for his livelihood, and he let me know it.

他需要那臺卡車來維持生計，而且他讓我知道了。

And so even I've told that story a few times, even telling it now.

所以即使我講過這個故事幾次了，現在講起來。

Like, every time I tell, like, I feel the lump in my throat of, like, what it felt like at 13 to stand there, like, knees knocking and having to look somebody in the eye, explain to them, you know, the mistake I made and what I was gonna do to make it right.

像是，每次我講，就像，我喉嚨都會哽咽，就像，13歲時站在那裡，像是，膝蓋都在發抖，還要看著別人的眼睛，跟他們解釋，你知道，我犯的錯，以及我會怎麼做來彌補。

And, you know, back to, like, powerful lessons from early on, I think One of the things that has happened in tech is that, you know, there's so many people running platforms with hundreds of millions or billions of users.

然後，你知道，回到，像是，早期的重要課程，我認為科技界發生的一件事是，你知道，有這麼多人經營著擁有數億或數十億用戶的平臺。

And I've had the good fortune to work on products that, you know, that have served billions of users.

而且我很幸運能參與開發服務了數十億用戶的產品。

But I think for so many people that are working on these products, they don't have to sort of look eye to eye with all the customers.

但我認為對於許多開發這些產品的人來說，他們不必直接面對所有的客戶。

And with hundreds of millions or billions of users, users become sort of nameless and faceless.

而面對數億或數十億用戶時，用戶會變得有點無名無姓、沒有面孔。

But for me, I see every single one of them staring back at me.

但對我來說，我看到他們每一個都在看著我。

When we make decisions about what we're going to do, that's sort of my bar is, could I look someone in the eye and say, you know, I did my level best to do what, in my heart of hearts, I felt was the right thing?

當我們做關於我們要做什麼的決定時，我的標準就是，我能不能看著某人說，你知道，我已經盡了我最大的努力，做了我內心深處認為是對的事情？

That's going to come up later in your story when we talk about Gen Z as well and your extraordinary actions.

這部分會在我們稍後談到 Z 世代和你的非凡事蹟時再次出現。

You grew up in, for want of a better word, a really tough rural environment where it was really tough for the customers, it was tough for your family.

你成長的環境，如果用比較好聽的說法，是一個非常艱困的鄉村環境，對顧客來說很辛苦，對你的家人來說也很辛苦。

Paycheck to paycheck, customer to customer.

捉襟見肘，一個客人接著一個客人。

Is, you know, that was sort of the dream was just to get to college.

你知道，那時候的夢想就是能上大學。