PHOENIX — Kevin Warren was 11 when he first did the math, navigating a new and uncomfortable normal after being struck by a car while riding his bike from his home to Marcos De Niza High School in Tempe, Ariz.
That serious accident in June 1975 left Warren in traction and later in a body cast. It also left him, at a young age, deeply contemplating the fragility of life and vowing not to waste any of what he had ahead. That’s when he first did the math.
Sixty-minutes every hour. Twenty-four hours every day.
Warren’s “1440″ concept was born.
“I adopted that as my guide: 1,440 minutes in a day,” Warren said this week, sitting in the shade of an outdoor patio at the NFL owners meetings. “I just knew. You cannot afford to waste time. And that’s still one of the big things in my life. People will value jewelry. People will value money and cars and clothing. Or planes or art. All that is wonderful. But I have found that over time one thing people undervalue is time. You will be able to get all the desires of your heart if you manage and take care of your time.”
That concept remains part of Warren’s compass and it will be not so subtly folded into his introduction at Halas Hall where he is landing this spring as the new Chicago Bears president, CEO and de facto fueling station. With an eye on lifting the Bears back to grand heights, Warren promises to take care of his 1,440 and will challenge every person in the franchise to do the same.
The demands will be intense. But Warren promises the experience will also become invigorating to the leaders and troops in the organization who truly want to transform the Bears and restore one of the NFL’s charter franchises as a model for success.
“I didn’t come to the Chicago Bears for a job,” Warren said. “I came there because I want people in this organization in this place in time to understand what we’re trying to achieve. I want this to be something where 30, 40, 50 years from now, people are asking anyone who was around this, ‘What was that like? What was that really like? What made that work?’ ”
This is a pivotal time in franchise history with a team that was the league’s worst in 2022 restarting its climb from the very bottom of the mountain with an offseason of trades, signings and calculated draft picks. General manager Ryan Poles is spearheading that effort while leaning on Warren for guidance. There’s not a minute to waste.
At the same time, Warren will provide needed leadership to the organization’s stadium exploration efforts in Arlington Heights. He can’t wait to be fully immersed in that project soon, understanding the complexity of it but being energized by the challenge.
“This is a calling for me,” Warren said Sunday.
April 17. Mark it down. That’s the day Warren officially will become the new president and CEO full time, taking over the responsibilities that Ted Phillips has held since 1999. That’s also the day Warren will do as he promised in his introductory news conference in January and begin interviewing the people who work at Halas Hall. All of them.
Warren has vowed to get to everyone before he’s done.
Players. Coaches. Scouts. Cafeteria cooks. Marketing reps. Digital media producers.
Tell me about this place. What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? What can we be doing better?
“The biggest thing I want is just transparent, unvarnished information,” Warren told the Tribune this week.
“That’s the greatest attribute employees can provide to their employers and especially the leadership is that transparent, unvarnished information. Because I can only improve and fix and empower and encourage through what I know.”
Warren is looking for honesty. He wants detail. He wants ideas. He wants energy.
“This is not a tattletale session,” Warren said. “This is not complaining about what somebody else did or didn’t do. I’m just looking for information. And really I’m looking for the information through an employee’s eyes.
“I really want to know, ‘If you were the owner of this team, what do you think would be important to build a championship caliber organization? At every level. What do you need to be able to do your job at the highest level?’ ”
That might sound overly simple or like some sort of hollow motivational mumbo-jumbo to some. But for Warren, those are the seeds for productive leadership.
Said Bears Chairman George McCaskey: “The fundamental question is. ‘How can the Bears be better?’ I think that’s a great place to start.”
Warren remains intent on finding “the passion points for people” and strategizing to find ideal roles for everybody. He has studied highly successful organizations — from championship sports teams to elite corporations. “What you’ll see is that the keys that make them successful are really very simple,” he said. “But it comes down to the execution of talented and motivated people caring about them on a daily basis.”
Don’t get it twisted. Warren will have a long and demanding task list to tend to when he slides into his new, big role full time next month. The stadium project will be at the top of the list. That undertaking will chew up much of his time and energy, and Warren is eager for that. But he also is intent on infusing the entire building at 1920 Football Drive in Lake Forest with contagious enthusiasm, with greater unity, with a new level of ambition.
As one league source who knows Warren well said, “Complacency is Kevin Warren’s No. 1 enemy.”
Welcome to Halas Hall then, where the resident Bears haven’t enjoyed a run of three consecutive winning seasons since 1988 and haven’t won a playoff game since Jan. 16, 2011.
[ [Don’t miss] Who will the Chicago Bears select at No. 9? Brad Biggs’ NFL mock draft 1.0. ]
To say the organization would benefit from a jump-start is an understatement. Perhaps Warren’s brand of motivation and oversight will become a catalyst.
Warren understands those who question how a team president with so many things to oversee can affect the on-field success of a football team to any large degree. But he stresses that the most important juice within championship organizations is “atmospheric,” with highly motivated and competitive people throughout the operation thinking big and then daring to think even bigger.
Poles lit up Monday when he was asked about his early dealings with Warren. “It’s been awesome,” Poles said. “The communication is outstanding. The feedback (is outstanding). I love feedback. I like having conversations.”
Poles has enjoyed being challenged on his approaches and thought processes, given new wrinkles to consider.
Warren has reciprocated the praise, complimenting Poles for his wisdom, emotional intelligence, diligence and steady leadership. Warren also notes the composure he has felt within the Bears’ leadership tree, calm atypical for a team that just lost a franchise-record 14 games last season.
“We’re all connected and working together,” Warren said. “And there’s a sense around the NFL community that we have the right people at the right time in the right situation and focused on the right issues. And none of us have egos. I really love the energy we have developed.”
Matt Eberflus spoke to that aura further.
“(It’s big) when you have a vision for what you want the football team to be and you have an approach and you spell that out,” Eberflus said. “And you put your heads together collectively as a group to form that plan and then execute that plan. But also you have the ability to adjust and adapt when things change.”
The Bears, obviously, won’t just speak achievement into existence through philosophy and motivational pep talks. Warren wants everyone in the organization to understand that every vision must be crystallized with follow-through, dedication and extra effort. Over time, he’s confident the results will show.
