The third leadership quality Austin had was an unshakable confidence in himself, and in the rightness of what he was doing. According to Professor Cantrell, he never even considered the possibility of failure. He learned to recognize his strengths and compensate for his weaknesses. Criticism bounced off. Austin viewed mistakes simply as an opportunity for learning.

奥斯汀具有的第三种品质是毫不动摇地坚信自己和自己所做事业的正义性。根据坎特雷尔教授的描述，奥斯汀从不认为自己会失败。他知道什么是自己的长项，并知道如何弥补自己的弱项。尽管会遭遇到批评意见，但奥斯汀却把任何错误都看作是学习的机会。

这是密歇根州州长约翰.恩格勒1999年5月15日在得克萨斯州纳科多契斯市斯蒂芬.F.奥斯汀州立大学毕业典礼上的演说中指出领袖的四种品质之一。