YesPress Profile
Podcast host. Three-time bestselling author. The man who built a school with no building and graduated 500 million listeners.
The Arc
Two games into his first professional season, Lewis Howes dove for a pass, hit a wall, and snapped his wrist. He played the rest of the Arena Football League season with the bone broken, underwent surgery afterward, and woke up to the quiet that follows the end of an athletic career. He was 22. He moved onto his sister's couch in Columbus, Ohio.
Most people's story would end there - or at least take a long detour through bitterness. Howes went to the library, checked out a book on LinkedIn, and started hosting virtual networking events for sports industry professionals. He charged nothing at first. Then he charged a little. Within two years, SportsNetworker was a real consulting firm, and Lewis Howes was the guy Fortune 500 companies called when they wanted to figure out social media.
"Failure (or feedback) gives you the opportunity to look at what's not working and figure out how to make it work."- Lewis Howes
In January 2013, he launched The School of Greatness as a podcast. Nobody expected it to become one of the most-downloaded podcasts on the planet. Howes probably did - he had been writing down goals with specific target dates since his couch days, a habit that became almost spooky in its accuracy. The school with no building, no faculty, and no tuition has now graduated more than half a billion listening sessions.
In 2024, he went further. The Greatness Network launched as a full podcast and media company, designed to bring emerging inspirational voices into audio, video, television, and live events. The first partnership: "The Mindset Mentor" with Rob Dial. Howes is no longer just a host. He is building the infrastructure for the next generation of hosts.
By the Numbers
Career Arc
The Record
In 2002, playing for Capital University, Lewis Howes caught 17 passes for 418 yards in a single NCAA Division III game. The record has never been broken. The wrist that snapped two years later was his throwing hand - not his catching one - but it ended everything. Some records are what you carry forward. Others are what you leave behind.
The Couch
After his career ended, Howes moved onto his sister's couch in Columbus. No income, no plan, no idea that LinkedIn was about to become his launching pad. He went to the public library, found a book on professional networking, and started hosting free virtual events for sports industry professionals. The empire began there - on a couch, with a library card.
The Main Event
When Lewis Howes launched The School of Greatness in 2013, podcast listening required a specific kind of patience - you had to know what an RSS feed was. He built it anyway, episode by episode, guest by guest, covering fitness, money, nutrition, spirituality, entrepreneurship, and anything else that fit under the enormous umbrella of "becoming better at being human."
The format is deceptively simple: long-form conversations with people who have done something remarkable. Tony Robbins on mindset. Arianna Huffington on rest. Alanis Morissette on creativity. Scooter Braun on the music business. Each conversation circles back to the same territory: what does greatness actually require, and what does it cost?
"The key in telling stories that people relate to is vulnerability and authenticity. Letting people know the struggle behind your brand - the failures and mistakes - is really important."- Lewis Howes
The "Five Minute Friday" format - a short weekly episode distilling one insight - became a listener favorite and a media template that dozens of shows have since borrowed. Howes had essentially invented the podcast micro-format years before it became standard practice.
By 2024, the school had a television show on PBS, a documentary ("Chasing Greatness"), and enough download momentum that Howes could stop running one podcast and start building a network. The Greatness Network launched that year as a home for emerging and established inspirational voices - think of it as what The School of Greatness would look like if it had campus expansion plans.
In His Words
Failure (or feedback) gives you the opportunity to look at what's not working and figure out how to make it work.
The key in telling stories people relate to is vulnerability and authenticity - letting people know the struggle behind your brand.
Masculinity is about discovering yourself and owning what you find. It's about being kind to others, and pursuing your dreams with all the passion and energy you can muster.
Dream big, start small, act now.
Who He Is
Published Works
Howes has authored three New York Times bestselling books, each rooted in the same question he explores on his podcast: what separates the people who achieve extraordinary things from those who settle for ordinary ones?
"The School of Greatness" (2015) made the case that greatness is learnable - a set of practices, habits, and mindsets that can be studied like a subject. "The Mask of Masculinity" (2017) took a different angle: an argument that the performance of toughness was itself the thing holding men back from real achievement and real connection. His books mirror his interviews - they are built on vulnerability, not bravado.
Three New York Times bestsellers from a kid who was placed in special needs classes and couldn't afford rent in his 20s.
The Details
His NCAA Division III single-game receiving record of 418 yards, set in 2002, has never been broken. He was playing for Capital University against Martin Luther College - a game most people have never heard of, that produced a record most people will never touch.
Before podcasting, before LinkedIn, Howes played professional handball in Spain and competed on the USA Men's National Handball Team. He is one of a genuinely tiny number of Americans who can say that.
His entire media empire traces back to a library visit. He checked out a book on LinkedIn networking when he was broke on his sister's couch. The first thing he monetized was his ability to explain LinkedIn to other people.
The Obama White House named him one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30 in America. He built most of what got him that recognition before podcasting was even a recognized career category.
The School of Greatness airs on PBS - public broadcasting. Not exactly where you'd expect a former arena football player's interview show to land, and exactly the kind of surprising institutional validation that Howes seems to collect.
Howes has written about the habit of putting specific target dates next to goals and being almost unsettled when he reaches them on schedule. He started the habit during his couch days. He is still doing it.
Recognition
The list of what Lewis Howes has been recognized for is long, and somewhat unlikely for a kid who started in special needs classes and ended up broke in his early 20s.
2024-2025
In 2024, Lewis Howes stopped being just a podcast host and started being a network founder. The Greatness Network launched as a dedicated home for podcast content across audio, video, television, and live events. The first partnership signed was "The Mindset Mentor" with Rob Dial, who brings 3.5 million social media followers to the network. The model: amplify emerging voices by plugging them into infrastructure Howes spent 12 years building.
On February 8, 2025, he married Mexican actress and producer Martha Higareda in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. They had been together since 2021 and got engaged in 2023. Shortly after, they announced they are expecting their first child.
Next Chapter
The Greatness Network represents the clearest statement yet of where Howes thinks the media landscape is going: distributed, creator-led, multi-platform, and built around genuine stories rather than advertising categories. He is not pivoting away from what built his audience. He is building the scaffolding for others to do what he did.
He is also still producing The School of Greatness - past 1,000 episodes, still growing, still running the Five Minute Friday format that listeners have come to expect. The school never closed. It just added a campus.
Vision
To build the Greatness Network into a major multi-platform media company that amplifies emerging and established inspirational voices - through television, podcasting, and live events. The goal is not to remain the center of the story. It's to build the distribution system so others can tell theirs.
SCHOOL OF GREATNESS - GREATNESS NETWORK - PBS - 12 YEARS AND COUNTING
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