Ever feel your team is waiting on you for every decision while your vision work gathers dust? We sat down with Shirley Williani, founder and CEO of A la Carte Solutions, to unpack the precise tools and hiring moves that remove a CEO from the approval queue and put momentum back into the business. Shirley shares how a sabbatical sparked hard feedback from her team, the wake-up moment that she was the bottleneck, and the simple decision matrix that reshaped accountability overnight.

We dig into the matrix itself—two axes, consequence and reversibility—and how to sort choices into “decide,” “decide and inform,” and “consult the CEO.” You’ll hear real examples, from client discounts to system changes, and how those rules gave managers confidence while freeing Shirley to focus on vision, culture, sales, and marketing. The conversation also reaches upstream to the talent pipeline: why “lifestyle change” candidates often lack urgency, how to spot motivated applicants with probing, story-rich questions, and what a rigorous nine-step recruiting process can do for retention and performance.

Shirley also traces her journey from KPMG and a CFO seat to launching a fractional accounting model when a client wanted a unicorn hire. That structural insight—match roles to actual skills—echoes through her leadership playbook. We close with candid talk about habits, comparison traps, and the mental shift from inner critic to inner champion, including a daily practice that strengthens self-trust. If you’re ready to scale decision-making, lower unwanted churn, and lead with a clearer mind, this conversation offers practical frameworks you can implement today.

Enjoyed the episode? Follow the show, share it with a leader who needs it, and leave a review to help more CEOs find these tools.

In this podcast you will learn about:

• Defining elite success across life and work

• Solving “unicorn” roles with fractional structure

• Shifting time to vision, culture, and revenue

• Recruiting for urgency and culture fit

• The three R’s: recruit, retain, release

• Habits that support consistency and clarity

• Inner critic vs inner champion practice

Highlights:

0:00

Series Setup And Guest Intro

0:43

Defining Elite Success

3:07

Trusting Teams To Create Space

4:01

Career Path From CPA To CEO

7:48

Pitching Without A Plan

10:25

Removing Self Placed Boulders

12:41

Becoming The Bottleneck Wake Up

14:46

From Gatekeeper To Vision Leader

16:25

Building The Decision Matrix

20:41

Hiring, Retaining, Releasing Talent

24:18

Urgency Signals In Recruiting

28:16

Habits, Self Care, And Comparison

31:09

Inner Critic Vs Inner Champion

33:41

Where To Learn More And Closing

Interested in 1:1 Coaching?

If you were truly leading at the level your vision requires, what decision would you make this week?

I provide strategic coaching for high-performing financial advisors, service-based business owners, and leaders who want coaching that goes beyond accountability. I partner with you to execute on your vision and focus on what truly drives results: executive presence, leadership development, scaling, and prioritization.

The outcome: you realize your full potential, influence and inspire others, and lead a high-impact business that reflects your next-level goals.

To explore if coaching is the right fit, email me at meet@kristinburke.com to schedule a discovery call.

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Today we share why clear goals still stall and how thoughtful accountability creates consistent follow-through. Simple weekly check-ins, belief-first coaching, and one precise question turn intention into action without pressure or micromanagement.

In this episode you will learn:

• Accountability as the key to execution

• Why consistency beats complexity

• Peer check-ins that make commitments real

• Addressing beliefs before process or skill

• Listening for hesitation and naming obstacles

• Simple questions that surface the real blockers

• Clarity, awareness, conversation, care as the core

• How to choose one priority and follow through

If this episode was useful, follow Elite Achievement to continue building clarity and execution into how you work

Goal Setting Success

If you’re ready to set goals you’ll actually achieve, the Goal Setting Success course will help you do it. This self-paced experience walks you through the same framework I’ve used for years with leaders and advisors to create meaningful goals and a plan that drives real results.

Inside the course, you’ll learn how to:

1. Clarify your vision for success
2. Reflect on what worked and what didn’t
3. Brainstorm strategies with focus and intention
4. Create a clear, actionable plan for the year ahead

Start the new year with clarity, confidence, and structure.

Listeners of the Elite Achievement Podcast can save $50 with code PODCAST50 at checkout.

Enroll today at kristinburke.com/goal-setting-success-course

Connect with Kristin

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Goal Setting Success Course

Goals don’t fail for lack of ambition; they stall when a full calendar meets fuzzy priorities. We sat down with productivity expert Demir Bentley, co-founder of Life Hack Method and author of Winning the Week, to unpack a simple practice that changes everything: a consistent weekly planning ritual. Demir’s premise is refreshingly real—planning is boring, but freedom lives on the other side. When you trade a short burst of discomfort on Friday for a clear, calendarized plan, you get a calmer weekend and a Monday that runs on rails.

DCWe explore what elite success really looks like through Demir’s Rubik’s Cube lens—solving multiple sides of life well enough to be proud across business, health, family, and finances. From there, we move into the core sequence that turns intention into execution: review your wins and losses, extract a lesson, scan the calendar to defuse landmines, set a few big rocks using the Eisenhower matrix, pick one gold star action, then open your task list and schedule the work. We dig into why most people avoid planning despite believing in it, how discipline creates freedom, and why Friday afternoon or early Saturday morning is the best window to plan and actually rest.

Demir also shares how top-down clarity changes the game. Build a simple life map for the year so your weekly choices align with leveraged outcomes, not just urgent demands. We talk about using AI to sort tasks when it understands your priorities, choosing needs before wants, and pulling the levers that compound—systems, assets, and decisions that make future work easier or unnecessary. In tough markets, push where the ball will move: operations, profitability, retention, or even your health.

If you’re ready to replace overwhelm with clarity and turn goals into real results, this conversation gives you the playbook. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs less stress and more leverage, and leave a review telling us your gold star action for next week.

In this podcast you will learn about:

• Defining elite success across all sides of life

• Accepting time limits and designing the week with purpose

• Discipline creates freedom through a weekly ritual

• Why most people know planning helps but still avoid it

• When to plan and how to protect weekend rest

• A step-by-step process for wins, lessons, priorities, tasks

• Building a life map for top-down clarity

• Choosing leverage, needs before wants, and systems

• Playing the long game through operations and retention

• Habits for couples to sync logistics and reduce stress

Highlights:

0:00

Why Weekly Planning Matters

1:18

Show Open And Guest Intro

2:06

Defining Elite Success

6:11

Time Limits And The Rubik’s Cube

7:36

Discipline, Freedom, And Planning

10:41

The One Thing: Plan Your Week

12:04

The Planning Gap And Why It Exists

14:34

Friday...