Many have told me that change agents are capable of enacting both positive and negative change. Based on this feedback I have evolved the DNA model within the paper to incorporate the fact that change agents have an ethical core. The paper also describes that self-awareness is a DNA hallmark of a change agent. Self-awareness involves ensuring that egos are kept in check and self managed.
Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing an excellent new movie that calls to mind the DNA of a change agent and demonstrates what can go wrong when ego and ethics collide. Breach chronicles the life of Robert Hanssen who was convicted of perpetrating what the Justice Department termed “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in US history.” Hanssen now spends 23 hours a day in solitary confinement for the way he betrayed his country.
I won’t recast the movie except to say that the characters and storyline will leave you talking the next day. Mathias Preble who had a tangential relationship to Hanssen joined me and my wife at the film on Saturday. Mathias recalled hearing Hanssen speak once at a church meeting about the life of an FBI Intelligence Officer. Ironically, at that meeting (just months before Hanssen was caught) Mathias asked Hanssen during the Q&A portion why any American would willingly betray their country? While Mathias could not remember the exact quote, Hanssen’s response envoked the idea of ego’s gone awry. At the end of the movie you hear Hanssen discuss the topic of ego again–this time in his analysis of the Aldrich Ames case. Change agents should see this movie and then consider the many lessons learned. You will be discussing them the next day.
