Original ArticleSense Making and Knowledge Transfer: Capturing the Knowledge and Wisdom of Nursing Leaders

•A need exists to capture the leadership wisdom of experienced nurse leaders.•Concepts such as knowledge, wisdom, complexity, and nursing leadership must be understood in the context of today's dynamic environment.•Sense making is an intentional process that can be used to tease out a leader's implicit knowledge and wisdom.•A concrete application of the sense-making methodology illuminates how this process can work.

Experienced nurse leaders possess leadership wisdom that must be passed on in thoughtful, systematic ways to younger leaders. Sense making is an intentional process that has been useful in bringing forward a leader's implicit knowledge and wisdom gained over the years. This article examines leadership wisdom, complexity, and knowledge in the context of today's dynamic environment-and offers a concrete example of how the sense-making methodology can work.