Jeff Zucker has had a meteoric rise at NBC, from executive producer at The Today Show in 1992 to the current C.E.O. and president of NBC Universal. At a time when television and old media are at a standstill, Zucker faces big challenges in keeping the company moving forward. Writer Karl Taro Greenfeld discusses his interest in covering this story.

Why did you want to write about Jeff Zucker?
I always found him interesting, how he went from being a prodigy at the Today show to being blamed for NBC’s prime-time problems in such a short span of time. He always struck me as being both brilliant but also having a pretty big ego—he’s famously competitive—so I wondered how going from hero to goat so quickly might have felt.

How different was he from what you expected?
I didn’t have many expectations about him. I try not to when I go into a profile. Of course, we have certain impressions, like those I mentioned above. But I didn’t really have preformed ideas about his personality.

What was the hardest part about reporting the story?
It took a while to get Jeff to agree to meet with me. He hadn’t done a profile since taking over NBCU more than a year and half ago, so I didn’t know if he would sit down with me.

Was there a particular moment where you felt you were really understanding him?
When I spoke to his wife, Caryn, a brilliant and very funny woman herself, she confirmed much of what I had begun to conclude about Jeff, about his obsessiveness, his insomnia, his competitiveness.

Did you come away thinking his job was harder or easier than you imagined?
I think many people would find his job difficult. But Jeff thrives so much on the hectic pace that I don’t think it is difficult for him. As Caryn told me, he lives for this stuff.