I was contemplating a question that randomly hit me this morning. What kind of leader do I follow? As I processed it, one central theme rose to the top. Being authentic. Mark Cole, CEO of John Maxwell Organization, said, "People don't want a perfect leader; they want an authentic leader". I could not agree more. In today's world, we are confused by what is real or fake. Scroll through social media, and I guarantee you'll find a fake story waiting for you to click on. How many of you have been faked out by AI? I have multiple times. That's why the more real and authentic we can be, the more positive response we will get in return. Jodi and I recently interviewed Randy Zook, President of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, whose advice when talking to business people is "don't blow smoke". In other words Be real, be authentic". So my question is, how important is being authentic? Is it something you look for in a leader?