CHICAGO — Kevin Warren had just arrived in Orlando, Fla., for the NFL owners meetings last month, so his attire was more casual than the suit and tie he usually wears to such events. His morning travel didn’t afford time for lunch, so tucked in the back room of a restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton, he took bites of blackened shrimp salad amid monologues about the state of the Chicago Bears.

If the Bears president and CEO was harried by thoughts of diving into three days of meetings with NFL leaders, he didn’t show it as he waded through multiple topics facing the organization, including its Chicago stadium push and the work that general manager Ryan Poles has accomplished. Warren even offered thanks for the questions.

In one year on the job, Warren has balanced working in such seemingly contradictory states.

He bounces from meeting to meeting with an enthusiasm and energy that Bears chief operating officer Karen Murphy finds difficult to comprehend. He is unafraid of the attention in his new role, already exceedingly more visible and vocal than his predecessor, Ted Phillips, about his wants for the organization and his methods to get it.

“A force of nature,” Bears Chairman George McCaskey said.

Yet beneath the extroverted passion and grinder mentality is a skill for building relationships, McCaskey and Murphy said, an ability to make people feel heard, appreciated and motivated.

That motivation was one thing Warren identified as needing improvement inside Halas Hall when he started his job April 17, 2023, after nearly four years as Big Ten commissioner.

“One of the things that kind of jumped off the page for me was I got a sense that many of our employees needed to be reminded about how great this franchise is, that we are poised for greatness,” Warren said. “We need to work hard. We need to communicate. But we are a charter franchise.

“And not only that, we had some really talented people. So one of the things I saw across our organization is that we needed to make sure that we expanded our dreams — and then we’re willing to work to reach those dreams. But it was OK for us to really dream big and strive to be exceptional.”

Many questions persist about whether Warren and his bold style will help the Bears reach such achievements.

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