Name: Aryeh Eisenberg

Title: CEO

Organisation: Edu-Together

Aryeh’s background as an educator led him to creating Edu-Together as a solution to some of the major challenges faced by today’s students, teachers and school administrators.

Before founding Edu-Together, Aryeh was an administrator and teacher at two large private day schools and served as a consultant for many other educational institutions and organizations.

He also continues to serve as an ed-tech consultant for schools and organizations. Aryeh holds a BA from the University of Maryland and an MA Ed. from Touro.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Aryeh's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Leadership is about strong communication. If the communication between the leader and the team is strong, I believe that the product/services will be more successful. Communication must also be strong between the company and the customers. As a leader, it is my job to ensure that this is happening across the company, and that I myself am setting a strong example.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

My experience in education started when I was asked to help my school create its educational technology plan. This was back in the year 2000 when most schools were not yet looking at technology as a true educational resource. Over time, I became one of the few educational technology "experts" in my region, and had the privledge to create ed-tech plans for several private schools. From there, I continued on a leadership path.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

As the CEO of an international company, work is a central part of my daily routine. I generally wake up around 6:30 AM and after my morning prayers and the occasional visit to the gym, I am at my desk. While I do have the ability to take breaks as needed, in today's world, we never really leave the office. So, I am pretty much always working until around 9 or 10 PM.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

I was doing some consulting for a school that had created a trust issue between the administration and the parents. The school was not open and honest about a certain issue. This reminded me of the importance of being straightforward and honest with all involved. We all make mistakes, but the true test is what happens afterwards.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

There is a book called "Skullcaps and Switchblades" by David Lazerson. The book chronicles the author's experiences as a Chasidic Orthodox Jew teaching in an inner city Buffalo public school. The author had some amazing stories and really shared a lot of inspirational educational lessons.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Listen to those around you and take advice from those who have more experience. There is no reason to "reinvent the wheel" and we can often learn a lot from past experiences, both positive and negative.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

When I started working as an online educator, a lot of schools were very skeptical that this type of education could actually work. One school, who I had approached several times, finally came to us with a class that was on its third teacher. It was only February, so the year was clearly not going well. At that point, the principal figured he had nothing to lose by trying an online class. The students in the class really benefited from this type of instruction and really bonded with their online teacher. Many of them, as well as their parents thanked us for finally making the education about the needs of the students. This really became the goal of my organization, and we have tried to make that happen with every class. This school is still with Edu-Together nine years later.