Healthcare is becoming increasingly complex, requiring leaders to cope with a significant degree of uncertainty, change and ambiguity. In this environment, the healthcare leader’s ability to make sense of their experiences and thrive as a leader, is crucial to the efficient functioning of the healthcare system. OBJECTIVE To explore how the healthcare leader understands and makes sense of their leadership experiences and to develop a theoretical model which reflects contemporary leadership in a complex healthcare environment. METHODS A constructivist grounded theory methodology provided a comprehensive and rigorous model for the flexible exploration and analysis of the personal experiences and perspectives of the participant healthcare leaders. The rich and varied data was co-created through researcher interviews with participants, where participants engaged in two, one-hour interviews. Memo writing throughout the data collection and analysis process afforded additional valuable data. RESULTS Coding of data using constant comparative analysis rendered six key categories: Broadening perspectives and abilities as a leader, Creating the best possible healthcare environment, Experiencing and making sense of the bad times, Leading in alignment with personal values, Communicating and building relationships, Experiencing and making sense of the rewarding times. An overarching core category emerged of Being an wholistic and developmental leader, which connected all the categories. CONCLUSION This research provides an understanding of how healthcare leaders make meaning from their leadership experiences. A comprehensive model has been constructed to describe how contemporary healthcare leaders make sense of their leadership experiences in complex environments both wholistically and developmentally. This is useful for both informing and supporting the developmental growth of healthcare leaders.