No matter how you look at it, the future poses a complex setting for career success. And if current trends continue, it will be more and more of a free-agent economy. Like professional athletes, many of us will be changing jobs more often and even working on flexible contracts with a shifting mix of employers over time. British scholar and consultant Charles Handy uses the analogy of the shamrock organization, shown here, to describe the implications. Each leaf in the shamrock organization represents a different group of workers.