But when Mr Wells died and Mr Eisner tried to replace him with Michael Ovitz the result was a disaster: the rows prompted key people to leave, and Mr Ovitz himself quit after 14 months, with a sizeable pay-off.
The Journal tells one especially striking story about a woman worker whose stress overwhelmed her, prompting her to quit her high-power job and move to a more low-key position.
"Any Chief Financial Officer of a publicly listed company who missed key revenue prediction on a major measure by 91.4% would be under serious pressure to quit, " he added.