The path less taken

Odofao-Mensah takes unique path to front office

A new era of Vikings football is upon us.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired as Minnesota’s general manager on Jan. 26, and he quickly joined the search committee’s effort to evaluate candidates to become the 10th head coach in franchise history.

A highly detailed yet rewarding process led to the hire of Kevin O’Connell three days after he helped the Los Angeles Rams win Super Bowl LVI.

Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have expressed their passions for teambuilding through collaboration and communication during multiple media sessions, including at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine. Here is a little more about Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell.

Adofo-Mensah’s untraditional path

T h e tweed jacket and bespectacled look that Adofo-Mensah once envisioned for himself as a professor of economics was nowhere to be found on Jan. 27.

Instead, Adofo-Mensah strolled into the Indoor Practice Facility at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center that morning in a blue suit and blue shirt accented by a solid purple tie, patterned pocket square and Norseman lapel pin.

Rather than a lecture hall of economics students ready to soak up information from someone with degrees from Princeton and Stanford, Adofo-Mensah spoke in front of an attentive audience filled with media members as Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf introduced the team’s new general manager.

“Kwesi has a strong leadership presence, a unique background and brings a variety of strong football experiences, which we believe are significant strengths as he assumes this role,” Wilf said. “He immediately stood out to us in his interviews because of his vision for longterm success, his complex information-gathering and intentional decision-making processes. He’s a tremendous leader who believes in con-

“...the job is about making decisions. Building consensus in the building. Combining different sources of information into one answer and having everybody necting people, building consensus and having strong communication throughbehind it.” out the organization – all of the traits that we spoke about when we began looking - Kwesi Adofo-Mensah for new leadership a few weeks ago. “Every conversation we had with our contacts around the league led us to believe we were on the right track with Kwesi,” Wilf continued. “He’s widely respected and well-liked, and people strongly believe he will make an immediate and positive impact, and has a high ceiling, for this organization, the Minnesota Vikings, to evolve and grow.”