David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, is known for losing his temper and calling underlings at 6 a.m., according to a recent New Yorker profile. But the chief executive has long been viewed in a favorable light by people who sat above him in the pecking order.
Former colleagues interviewed by the magazine describe Zaslav as the kind of person who cultivates friendships with senior bosses—playing tennis with partners at the law firm where he started out, bonding with “key deal decision makers,” as one source says—and uses those relationships to keep advancing in an organization. “He was very good at managing up,” a past colleague said.
