A decade-long research project known at the Whitehall Studies followed 10,000 British employees comparing health outcomes to different pay grades. Sheena Iyengar cited this study in her best-selling book, The Art of Choosing. Contradicting the stereo-type of the hard-charging boss who drops dead of a heart attack at 45, the studies found that although the higher-paying jobs came with greater pressure, employees in the lowest paying grades, such as a doorman, were three times more likely to die of coronary heart disease. The researchers traced the cause for this differential to an unlikely source – the degree of control employees had over their work. Lack of control spawned frequent low-grade stressors that wrecked the health of the blue-collar workers. The researchers concluded that most people have an innate drive for autonomy and feel stress when it’s not met. During interviews, start asking questions like: New agent prospects: In your current job, do you feel like you have control over your destiny? (Why not?) Experienced agent prospects: Do you feel like your efforts to grow are being frustrated by the people and systems in your office? By doing so, you’ll be dangling the autonomy carrot. To high-performers who are stuck in dead-end jobs or stressful situations, autonomy appears irresistible.