Sports Business Journal Leadership Profile

2019-01-01 · Kevin Warren, COO, Minnesota Vikings (Vikings)

Warren was named to SBJ's "Champions: Pioneers & Innovators" list as the youngest honoree ever. He used the profile to position himself as a thought leader on sports' role in society.

What he said

We in the sport business need to understand that sport is bigger than sport. This is a powerful platform, as it allows us to be change agents in politics, education, race relations — when done correctly. We need to be very thoughtful and use sports to propel positivity in our society, empower young people and be inclusive.

A leader should be an example. People should look at a leader and say, 'It is really hard to do all the different things that they're doing, and in a manner that they're doing it in.' That's something that I aspire to do.

Our group works really hard. We're very demanding, but also very charitable. We launched our Minnesota Vikings Foundation in 2017. We created a women's platform, Vikings Women. We were the first NFL team to host an LGBTQ symposium in 2018. We have created an Innovation Leadership Rotational Program for young people who cannot normally break into sports a chance to get into sports.

The fact-check

"We in the sport business need to understand that sport is bigger than sport. This is a powerful platform, as it allows us to be change agents." — Rhetoric: Aspirational statement about sports' social role. Difficult to verify what specific changes resulted from this philosophy.
"A leader should be an example. People should look at a leader and say, 'It is really hard to do all the different things that they're doing.'" — Rhetoric: Standard leadership philosophy statement. Neither true nor false - just aspirational framing.