Perceptions of authenticity are central to effective leadership, asauthentic leaders enable trust, elicit commitment, and foster collaboration. Our work identifies a critical factor that accounts for these judgments: the speed at which change occurs. This finding has significant implications for leaders who aim to address employee feedback: How they choose to respond may determine whether others appreciate the sincerity of their efforts. After all, who wants to put in the hard work of improving themselves if people don’t believe it’s real?