This presentation overviews the role of effective leadership in creating an organizational culture that embraces evidence-based nursing practice. The pivotal role and detectable impact of organizational culture will be discussed, and the concept of evidence-based nursing including both that which is commonly referred to as evidence-based practice, as well as different ways of knowing that are critically relevant to the nursing practice environment, will be explored. The presentation will further examine the relationship of organizational culture to clinical practice and identify critical barriers to implementation of evidence-based nursing within healthcare environments. Tangible leadership strategies for creating an organizational culture that serves to nurture and sustain the implementation of evidence-based nursing practice will be a primary focus of this presentation. Although creating lasting change within organizational culture can be a tremendous challenge, leadership implementation of the proposed strategies may serve to facilitate cutting edge practice and hold significant potential to measurably improve patient outcomes and enhance staff self-actualization.