Girls With Strong Relationships With Their Mothers And Other Likely Turncoats
You can almost see an aging Pierce Brosnan playing Nick Day, the former British intelligence agent turned private spook who infiltrated KPMG on behalf of a Washington, DC lobbying firm working for a Russian conglomerate, according to this Business Week story. The film is set in Bermuda. There are long, slow, cocktail-soaked evenings and plenty of bored young people working in off-shore finance for Brosnan's Day to take advantage of. The only problem with the narrative: the stakes aren't high enough. All the espionage, the dead drops, the career and possible life-risking conduct takes place against the backdrop of a nasty takeover duel of a Russian telecom.
But maybe the real interest in the story isn't what's being fought over but who the pawns are. According to real-life Nick Day's private intelligence firm, the ultimate corporate turncoats fit one of two types of personality profiles.
One personality type was a "male in his mid-20s who is somewhat bored...has a propensity to party hard, needs cash, enjoys risk, likes sports, likes women, is disrespectful of his managers, fiddles his expenses, but is patriotic." The memo described the second personality type as "a young female who is insecure, overweight, bitchy, not honest. Someone who spends money on her looks, clothes, gadgets. Has no boyfriend, and only superficial friends. Has a strong relationship with her mother."
Wow. Thanks goodness there is nobody working at our investment banks who fit that profile. Then we really might have a security problem.
Spies, Lies & KPMG [Business Week]
