This study investigates the roles of mindful leadership, employee creativity at work, and knowledge management enablers in enhancing project performance within project-based firms in Pakistan. Grounded in Social Exchange Theory and the Knowledge-Based View of the firm, we propose that mindful leadership enhances project performance both directly and indirectly, through creativity at work, and that this effect is strengthened by knowledge management enablers. We collected survey data from 249 professionals working on various construction projects in Pakistan. We used SmartPLS 4 (v4.0.1.9) for structural equation modeling. The results indicate that mindful leadership has a positive, significant effect on project performance. Mindful leadership alone had a weak and non-significant impact on employee creativity, but when coupled with strong knowledge management enablers, its influence on creativity became strongly positive. Mediation analysis confirms that employee creativity at work is a key mechanism linking mindful leadership to higher project performance. These findings enhance our understanding of how leadership and knowledge management practices intersect to drive project success, providing theoretical insights and practical implications for managing construction projects.