Traditionally the Emperor is seen as representing authority and rulership, the stability and solidness needed to build a civilization.  It symbolizes the traditional power structure in modern, patriarchal society.  This card is the 4th Trump of the Major Arcana.  Four symbolizes earthly reality, basic structure and orientation, and stability - think of the 4 seasons, 4 directions and 4 elements of earth, air, fire and water.  

"Negative:  You're giving up too much of your own freedom or power in order to identify with a (seemingly) more powerful force.  You're losing your separateness and that is a problem for you.  You won't personally be satisfied if you identify with this power structure.
Reversed:  One part of your personality, one need, desire, or drive controls or dominates the rest of you.  This could be an emotion, attitude, belief, or philosophy which overrides everything else in your life and completely dictates and directs your actions, successes, and failures." - Gail Fairfield

I really had to laugh when I drew this card.  Most of my life - both personally and professionally, I have a negative knee-jerk reaction to authority.  I almost always have to defy it, thumb my nose at it or mock it.  It can sometimes become a problem when dealing with supervisors, especially male ones.  Part of my problem is that I don't automatically grant respect to someone because of their title.  I've seen experienced enough to know that sometimes the people in command managed to attain their position through luck, personality or determination.  They may not necessarily be the most qualified person for the job.  As a result I tend to have a "show me" attitude about it.  

When I considered the question, what occurred to me is that what motives my lifestyle is a desire to turn The Emperor on his head; to transform and change the perceptions and rules about who deserves power and authority.  At the same time I understand enough about myself to know that on some level I want to be the boss.  I want to have power and authority but I don't want to acquire it through the same old route.  I don't want to become like the authority figures I've struggled against over the years.  I do not want to be an autocrat.  I want to be able to listen to other people's opinions and input and modify my decisions based on them.  

Of course I'm not there yet.  It's one of the reasons I rarely put myself out there as an authority.  I'm still a bit too sensitive about challenges.  Hell, I realize that I am a solitary Druid because I like performing rituals I've written and don't want to follow someone else's directions.  I can deal with someone providing me a framework or outline that I have to follow but I want to fill in my own blanks.  Who knows, I may never actually become an authority figure and that's okay with me.  I'd rather never have that kind of power and control than become like the ones I've met.  In some ways I'm like the archetypal child stating "You're not the boss of me".  Of course I'm not stupid, I know that there are times in my life when I will need to bow to authority, work with authority and even accept the authority.  That is how life goes.  However I know that I will never blindly follow authority.  There might have been a time in my life when I could have done that but the older I get and the more I learn, the less likely I am to accept the response "because I'm the boss" as enough