As part of my consulting practice, I’ve been interviewing my nonprofit CEO colleagues to learn what has made their onboarding successful (or not). The conversations have been candid, and one theme that stuck with me came from a fellow leader: to thrive as a nonprofit CEO, you have to be both confident AND delusional.

On the confidence side, the challenge is balance confidence and vulnerability. Staff and board members look to the CEO to project optimism about the future. If you don’t believe in the mission and the path ahead, no one else will. But the seat at the top is hard. It is lonely and you may feel pressure to have all of the answers. This is especially true for women leaders who can’t lean into the strong male leader stereotype. Even the best leaders can feel uncertain. In a recent conversation, a woman leader of an association shared that she tells her team, “I don’t know exactly how we’ll get there, but I know we’ll succeed because we’ll figure it out together.” That blend of assurance and openness invites others into the work.

On the delusional side, let’s be honest. We are living in a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous). What got us here won’t get us where we need to go. If you sit in the CEO chair believing the path forward is clear, you’re fooling yourself. The reality is, you have to be at least a little bit delusional to think your organization can thrive when the ground beneath us is shifting daily.

To succeed the delusion must be an eyes-wide-open. Not the kind that ignores the hard truths or glosses over challenges. Instead, it’s a belief in the possibility of success, paired with a relentless willingness to ask tough questions, test assumptions, and confront reality.

That’s the paradox of nonprofit leadership. You must project enough confidence to inspire trust and momentum while holding onto just enough delusion to believe that against all odds, your organization can adapt, innovate, and thrive.

The trick is keeping both in play at once. Confidence without delusion breeds complacency. Delusion without confidence leads to chaos. Together, they create the forward momentum that nonprofits need to navigate what’s next.

This post is part of my ongoing reflections on CEO onboarding—what makes it work, where it falls short, and the lessons we can learn to help the leaders of the future. Each conversation I’ve had with my peers reminds me that leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about stepping into uncertainty with confidence, a touch of delusion, and a willingness to figure it out together.