The Five Habits of Highly Effective People

Seventy years ago a wandering business guru emerged from an exploration of the darkest depths of the financial world and with him he brought a book. A book he claimed revealed the secrets of “Success! Or your money back!” recovered from the managers of the times of legend. The tome was called The Five Habits of Highly Effective People and revolutionised the corporate world. The mysterious habits allowed their practitioners to harness the mystical power of Synergy, energy’s more ambitious sibling.

The corporate world was laid to waste as the practitioners of the habits lead hostile takeovers of every sector and niche market in existence until, at last, the mega-corporations arose fueled by the power of Synergy and lead by Highly Effective People.

Synergy is energy's more go-getting, results orientated counterpart. Unlike mere energy Synergy may be harnessed to achieve the impossible for it is not limited by humdrum concepts, such as conservation, meaning that it always delivers 110% efficiency. When concentrated it appears as crackling yellow lightning that hums with the sounds of a thousand photocopiers.

Synergy is generated when any large group of sentient beings gathers and begins to do business. Corporate restructurings, business assurance, product testing, market research and day-to-day working all create different types of Synergy as business is performed. Normally this Synergy dissipates harmlessly into the environment resulting in random outbreaks of brainstorming sessions and interdepartmental memos. However, Business Gurus (those who have mastered one of the five habits) are able to focus and contain one specific type of Synergy, storing and then unleashing it in line with a corporate strategy.

A background level of Synergy permeates the universe and is thought to be responsible for the aggregation of galaxies, the evolution of opposable thumbs and the spontaneous organisation of focus groups in bacterial colonies. This also means that Gurus generate a single point of Synergy every turn. However, to realise the full potential of the Five Habits the business guru must generate concentrated raw Synergy. This can be done in numerous ways: downsizing, data production, focus groups, paperwork and maintenance may all be used to generate Synergy. When they have accumulated enough Synergy the guru may unleash it to reshape reality to their desires.

Each habit requires Synergy created in a certain way, this aspects the Synergy allowing it be used for one of the Habits. For example Outer-sourcing, the art of contracting business entities, requires Synergy generated through downsizing, whereas Createalytics requires rigorous product testing.

Creating Synergy requires application of the Core Competencies. Different Core Competencies are better at creating each type of synergy, these are noted on the relevant habit page. Since non-Gurus often display extreme proficiency with the Core Competencies it is generally beneficial for Gurus to work with others to generate the most Synergy possible in the shortest time-scale.

Inept to Above Average employees can expect to generate a single point of Synergy. Excellent employees, with their mastery of the Core Competencies, can be twice as effective. Superlative employees, the shining pearls of the company, can do even better, being three times as effective as the Average company employee at generating synergy.

Anyone may create Synergy but only Gurus may store it. Non-Gurus may transfer Synergy they have generated to Gurus before it dissipates in the form of business cards, policy documents and memos. This must be done in the same turn-sheet the Synergy was generated in, or at latest in the next turnsheet, otherwise the Synergy will dissipate.

Synergy creation requires an action devoted to it. You can attempt to pursue other goals while generating Synergy, for example you could try to downsize your nemesis' team while creating Synergy for Outer-sourcing. However, Synergy generation always takes priority so such actions are likely to be less effective at achieving your other ends than if you had devoted an action entirely to them… in other words, never try to generate Synergy in an action that is critical to Success!

You can spend Synergy in the same turn you generate it. So if two other people are aiding a guru in generating Synergy then the guru may use it on that turn.

To use the five habits the Guru must use accumulated Synergy. A spell costs units of Synergy equal to its level. Casting a Spell does not require an action in of itself and may be done as part of another, including actions devoted to synergy generation. So, for example, a level one spell may be cast in the same action that is used to generate the Synergy or as part of a project action.

All Gurus begin the game with access to the 1st level spells of their chosen Habit(s). To improve their mastery of their Habits and increase the level of spell they may cast the Guru must use their training points each turn to raise the level of spell they can use.

• Outer-Sourcing - The ability to use Synergy to employ powerful business entities. Favoured by the Finance & Human Resources department.

• Prerogative Execution - The power to use Synergy to infuse documentation with purpose. Favoured by the Legal & Acquisitions department.

• Createalytics - The talent of reshaping corporate reality with Synergy. Favoured by the Research & Development department.

• Think Win Win - The art of spreading viral ideas and marketing with Synergy. Favoured by the PR, Sales & Marketing department.

• Value Stream Mapping - The skill of manipulating Synergy to shape the natural order of the office. Favoured by the Facilities department.

• Synergy is the power generated by doing Business.

• Business Gurus use Synergy to cast spells.

• Each of the Five Habits requires Synergy to be aspected by generating it in the correct way.

• Gurus generate a single point of synergy naturally at the start of each turn.

• Appropriate aspected synergy may be generated through the methods described on the pages for specific habits.

• Anyone may generate Synergy but only Highly Effective people (Business Gurus) may store or use it.

• If you are not a Guru then any synergy you have will dissipate at the end of the current quarter due to universal accounting principles. That is to say you must hand it off to a Guru by the end of your next turnsheet (in a minor action) or else lose it.

• A spell requires a number of units of Synergy equal to its level to cast.

• Spells do not require a separate action to use and may be freely included in other actions.

• Starting Characters may only use the level one spells in their chosen habit, training points must be used to increase the available level in turnsheets.