your mentioning 'autonomy' triggered off something in my buzzword laden head. Dan Pink came up with the autonomy/mastery/purpose triad in his book.... Cal Newport ( corrupted callings ( http://calnewport.com/blog/2010/04/09/corrupted-callings-the...) ) talks about how you need to GET that Autonomy for yourself through 'following your calling' and levaraging your 'career capital' rightly. hope this helps