WorkLife with Adam Grant — “Fixing Social Media with Pinterest CEO Bill Ready”
September 2, 2025 — Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

In this episode, organizational psychologist Adam Grant sits down with Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest, to dissect the challenges and future of social media. The conversation centers on reimagining industry norms—shifting away from algorithms designed to maximize outrage and screen time, toward positive user experiences, safer environments for youth, and more ethical business strategies. Bill shares his vision for Pinterest as a “Volvo of social media,” offers candid perspectives on industry inertia, compares digital reform to historic shifts in car safety, and discusses leadership, DEI, and his formative years in a Kentucky auto shop.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The ‘Enragement’ Business Model in Social Media

• Harmful Incentives:
  Social media platforms often use AI algorithms to maximize time spent on site, typically by surfacing content that triggers outrage or insecurity.

  • “I think social media, as currently configured, is unsafe for kids under 16, full stop.”
    — Bill Ready [02:57]
  • "Social media uses AI to maximize your view time... whatever your triggers are... it figures out how to show you those things to maximize your view time."
    — Bill Ready [03:36]

• Algorithmic Shift (2014-2015):
  The move from chronological feeds to algorithmically-driven ones marked a tipping point in negativity and addiction.

2. Redesigning Algorithms for ‘Time Well Spent’

• Positive Engagement:
  Pinterest has actively tuned its AI to surface content that users explicitly express interest in (what they save, click, or intentionally engage with), elevating supportive, DIY, self-help, and creative content—rather than doomscroll fare.

  • "Instead of tuning for this sort of instinctual reaction... what if we appealed to conscious thought?... As soon as we started tuning for that, totally different content rose to the top."
    — Bill Ready [04:52]
  • "We're going after time well spent instead of time spent."
    — Bill Ready [07:10]

• Real-World Benefits:
  Pinterest aims to inspire users to take positive real-world actions, not just prolong their digital stay.

  • “If we help you go do something in the real world... you're going to have a really great experience… we want to be part of a healthier social media diet.”
    — Bill Ready [07:15]

3. Youth Safety & Privacy

• Policy Innovations:
  Pinterest is unique in making all accounts for users under 16 private—irreversibly so, to prevent contact from strangers.

  • "We're the only social media platform that is private only for users under 16... not a feature you can re-enable... it wasn't safe for users under 16 to be contacted by strangers online."
    — Bill Ready [07:42]

• Business Risk & Reward:
  This move initially tanked Pinterest’s stock by 20% but resulted in doubled growth a year later, with Gen Z becoming the platform’s largest and fastest-growing demographic.

4. Industry Change and Regulation

• Entrenched Models:
  Adam and Bill discuss why other CEOs resist positive changes—massive, profitable status quo, and the difficulty of reversing addictive designs.

  • "By the time people realized it, there were so many billions of dollars locked into the business model that it was hard for people to change."
    — Bill Ready [11:13]

• Analogies to Car Safety:
  Bill likens the situation to the advent of seat belt laws and industry safety ratings:

  • "Now [seatbelts] sounds absurd to say [they were against the business model]... I'd love to see a world where social media companies were competing on their safety records the same way auto manufacturers now compete on theirs."
    — Bill Ready [09:52, 10:47]
  • Suggests a regulatory baseline (not detailing every mechanism) with voluntary competition above that baseline.

• Open Pledge:
  Pinterest has published its “Inspired Internet Pledge”—a commitment to measure and report on users’ emotional wellbeing in hope of industry-wide adoption.

  • "We're committing to consistently measure our impact on emotional well being of our users, committing to improve over time and publish our results… in hopes that other people will follow."
    — Bill Ready [24:58]

5. Diversity by Default and Inclusion

• Inclusive Algorithms:
  Pinterest defaults to diverse representation—body type range, skin tone, hair texture filters—helping users see more relatable content.

  • “We do diversity by default in our feeds. We do body type ranges, we do skin tone ranges, hair pattern searches…”
    — Bill Ready [17:05]

• Business Results:
  Diversity and inclusion, Bill insists, produce not just fairness but business outperformance.

  • “A meritocracy done properly must be diverse and inclusive because talent comes from all different backgrounds.”
    — Bill Ready [32:47]

• Personal Connection:
  Bill shares his journey from first-generation college student with Pell Grants to Valley CEO as evidence for the power and importance of nontraditional hires and resilience.

  • “Had it not been for things like Pell Grants, I might not have ever been able to go to college.”
    — Bill Ready [34:32]

6. Phones and Social Media in Schools

• Research-Backed Advocacy:
  Adam highlights evidence from Norway and Arkansas on school smartphone bans reducing bullying, improving grades, and mental health.

  • “After smartphone bans, bullying went down for both boys and girls and also girls had better grades and fewer mental health problems. It doesn’t get more clear cut than that.”
    — Adam Grant [18:56]

• Collective Action Problem:
  The shift to phone-free schools causes anxiety but yields clear benefits—kids begin to genuinely interact again.

  • "The teachers talk about… it sounds like a school again… you hear the sounds of childhood again."
    — Bill Ready [20:19]

• Safety Concerns Addressed:
  Fears about phone bans and school shootings are, Bill and Adam argue, misplaced—dumb phones suffice for emergencies, and active shooter safety is often compromised, not helped, by smartphones.

  • “If they’re in a situation where there’s an active shooter, you don’t want that kid being distracted by incoming calls…”
    — Bill Ready [22:36]

• Platform Responsibility:
  Pinterest actively prompts under-18s to log off during school hours and helps them silence notifications.

  • “We will give [under 18s] a prompt that says, ‘Hey, we love you, come see us after school’... and a link to turn off all notifications… during those school hours.”
    — Bill Ready [23:46]

7. Leadership, Resilience, and the Human Factor

• Best Career Advice:
  “With whom do you build your army? Do you want the conscripted? Mercenaries? Or freedom fighters?... The freedom fighters will give you more than anyone else, but your mission better be real.”
  — Bill Ready [27:56]

• Worst Career Advice:
  “Growth as a strategy. Growth is not a strategy.”
  — Bill Ready [28:34]

• Leadership Vision:
  The best CEOs see their users/customers as real people—not “nameless, faceless” acquisition targets.

  • "If they were standing here in front of you, could you look them in the eye and make that case?"
    — Bill Ready [28:52]

• Formative Experience:
  Working in his parents' auto shop instilled accountability—if he made a mistake, he had to face the customer and make it right.

  • “Some of the best lessons that have helped me in Silicon Valley, I got in a little town in Kentucky because, like, oh, I had to face customers…”
    — Bill Ready [38:23]

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On competitive positivity:
  "There are few gifts better than a worthy competitor. I would love to see somebody step up and compete with us on how to do more for positivity because it will actually push us to up our game."
  — Bill Ready [18:12]
• On industry inertia:
  "It's not that long ago that you had major auto manufacturers saying that seatbelts were against the business model. Now that sounds absurd to say now."
  — Bill Ready [13:13]
• On resilience and hiring:
  "Whenever I hire, I don't just want to know what have you achieved? I also want to know what have you overcome."
  — Adam Grant [38:06]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:11] — Bill Ready opens with the “AI genie” analogy
• [03:36] — The harms of engagement-driven AI and youth mental health
• [04:52] — Tuning for positivity: “car crash” metaphor; Pinterest’s approach to algorithms
• [07:10] — “Time well spent” vs. “time spent”
• [07:42] — Privacy for users under 16, business consequences, and Gen Z engagement
• [10:47] — Car safety analogy: regulation and branding in the auto industry
• [13:13] — Industry resistance and pathway for change
• [17:05] — Diversity by default in Pinterest design
• [18:12] — The value of worthy competitors
• [18:56] — Phone bans in schools: research evidence
• [20:19] — School climate before/after smartphone bans
• [22:36] — School shooting safety considerations and myths
• [23:46] — Pinterest’s school-hours logoff prompts for teens
• [24:58] — The Inspired Internet Pledge: Open-source progress
• [27:56] — “Freedom fighters” advice; importance of a real mission
• [28:34] — Why “growth is not a strategy”
• [32:47] — DEI, meritocracy, and business outcomes
• [34:32] — Pell Grants and personal background
• [38:06] — Adam on resilience as a hiring criterion
• [38:23] — Bill’s formative story from the auto shop

Final Thoughts

Bill Ready’s vision for Pinterest stands in stark contrast to prevailing social media models: prioritize well-being, empower conscious choice, and embrace real user needs over addictive engagement. Through practical examples and personal anecdotes, he makes a nuanced case for how social media—and leadership at large—can serve both business and human flourishing. Adam Grant’s probing questions surface the research and psychology behind these trends, offering listeners both optimism and actionable insights for a healthier, more responsible digital future.

Produced by TED and Transmitter Media.
Episode originally aired on September 2, 2025.