Larry A. Sheakley, CEO (The Sheakley Group)

“As you know Tom Wurtz will be retiring from Sheakley January 17, 2008 after 30 passionate years. This will be a huge change for our company. I would like to personally say a few words about Tom upon his retirement from Sheakley. I use the word “retirement” loosely because Tom would never quit Sheakley, he loves it too much!!!

Besides myself at 37+ years, Tom’s 30 years at Sheakley makes his the second longest career of any Sheakley employee in our company history. Just think about it, 30 years – almost 60% of Tom’s life has been devoted to helping us be the very best we can be. He is loyal, intelligent, quick witted and humorous, organized, a great husband and father, and a terrible putter on the golf course! All the above best describes him 24 hour a day 7 days a week. However, what all this really means is SHEAKLEY WOULDN’T BE WHAT WE ARE TODAY WITHOUT HIM!

A very heartfelt Thank You, Tom, for everything you’ve done to make Sheakley a little better today than we were yesterday. And congratulations, on a career well spent. The best of luck with your newly formed consulting business. I wish you many successful, happy and healthy years to come!”

Shari Herper, Senior Vice President (Sheakley Medical)

“Tom Wurtz represents the toughness that all business leaders need. His strategies push the envelope on what most managers believe cannot be done. He has demonstrated results of profit margins in the 50%+ range all through re-vamping processes and utilizing the Eagle Program.”

Angie Wright, Senior Vice President (Sheakley Comp)

“Through vision and drive, Tom has been instrumental in making Sheakley a highly successful environment, void of “comfort zones” and filled with opportunity. His development and implementation of the Eagle Leadership Program created a powerful culture of self-development and greatly helped to fortify employee allegiance to the organization. Tom’s strong leadership skills and high degree of character are such that loyalty and respect are naturally his due. His many years of guidance have provided me with lifelong lessons on doing what’s right (even when its not always easy) and have helped me become the business professional I am today.”

Jim Hathaway, VP Information Systems (The Sheakley Group)

“Tom takes a complicated business idea and presents a simple story or two to teach some valuable business lessons that everyone can understand. His goal is always to get the student to act…to take small steps toward attaining a goal. Tom’s belief in measuring success in meaningful increments has helped me everyday over the last 20 years.”

Jayne Gaffney, Vice President (Sheakley Pension/Flex)

“It has been my pleasure to work with Tom Wurtz for the past 15 years. The Eagle Leadership Program which Tom founded has helped to build a strong employee base at Sheakley. I have witnessed the evolution of the employees who have been part of this program. As an inspirational speaker, Tom is a great coach and motivator energizing people through his wit and wisdom. For anyone who wants to improve themselves and their company’s bottom-line I would highly recommend Tom’s program.”

Ken Weber, VP of Tax Operations (Sheakley Comp)

“Tom Wurtz is a leader who has had a profound impact upon the people who worked for him and the company he served. Tom exemplifies the character qualities of integrity, hard work and commitment. He also has a great sense of humor. At our organization, Tom inspired people to make the most of the talent they have, with the resources available, in order to complete in business at the highest level. As our President and Chief Operating Officer, Tom successfully led our small, regional company to near the top of the employer services industry nationally and managed to maintain and improve our profitability along the way. You can’t ask much more of a leader.”

Jackie Luken, Vice President – Corporate Communications (The Sheakley Group)

“I am very fortunate to have had the pleasure of working directly for Tom Wurtz over the past few years of my career. Tom has played a tremendous role in my professional and personal development through his leadership. He is a dynamic speaker and has the unique ability to captivate his audience through his candid humor and thought provoking stories. Having participated in the Eagle Leadership Program I have been provided with the tools to grow as a leader, become a positive influence and focus on self-development. Anyone who is willing to change and make change, maintain a positive attitude, and is passionate about making a difference will benefit from his exceptional program. It builds confidence and motivates people to move forward with dreams and goals to improve themselves – helping average people become above average.”

Books 

The Score’s Wrong – The Lunatic Rantings of a Volleyball Dad 

“I recently just read your book, “The Score’s Wrong” and couldn’t put it down! After being told about it by another volleyball parent and friend last year, I finally got around to reading it the other night. I must tell you, I couldn’t stop laughing since most of the book really hit home to me having two girls in club volleyball myself (different clubs to boot). I am at a point in my life where I need all the laughs I can get since this is only our second year in club volleyball. Your book put a whole new perspective on where my thoughts and focus needs to be during the next several years we have ahead of us with club volleyball. Thanks for the great insight and the wonderful and much needed laughs! Keep writing…”

The Eagle Within – Success Principles from a Simple American 

“I just finished reading your book The Eagle Within. It’s probably the most exciting book I’ve read in many a year. I couldn’t put it down last night and read from about 10:30 till 3:37 this morning. Then lay awake for a while just pondering all that I could have been had I had a teacher like you or at least had this book 30 years ago. To know about making a formula would have made me richer. Maybe not in money but it would have made my life richer.

I’m a 65-year-old lady, Realtor of 6 years, 23 years in sales elsewhere. I was always aggressive and a person that would ask for, or look around for the things to do to stay busy. Being a Realtor has been a great experience and I wish I would have been one all my life.

But… I have not always been a high dollar Realtor and after reading your book I think that is because of not knowing the business as well as I think I do and have avoided a lot of seminars, have never had the concept of a formula ever entered my mind. I’ve seen a lot of people year after year come in as newbies and in very short time are excelling in sales and I wonder how they do that. I’ve tried so hard, this and that, to no avail. So I was content to accept that they just probably were born in the area and knew a lot of people who gave them the leg up.

NO. It’s me. Reading this book has made me feel like hitting the bricks with all I got and I just wrote down this morning a day of activities to follow. I did make it simple and I’ll be able to start as I want this to last and I will do it like exercise, add a little when this list becomes second nature A FORMULA FOR SUCCESS. MY FORMULA. This morning I looked in the mirror and saw an old lady bird with down, and because of your book I also think I saw one pin feather. As the days go by I will check each morning to look for more pin feathers so that one day I can look in the mirror and see an EAGLE.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I THANK GOD FOR YOUR GIFT TO MANY IS WHY YOUR HEART HEALED.”