TONY HSIEH, the entrepreneur who found fame and (additional) fortune with his shoe company Zappos, is a big believer in “collisions,” serendipitous encounters where workers randomly run into each other and share ideas. He recently told Entrepreneur magazine he’d even shut down a bridge linking his office’s parking garage to force workers to walk through a common area before they could get to their offices. Your staff may not be so large, but could you shake things up to spark similar innovation? Occasionally get an optician out on the sales floor, insist sales staff take turns having lunch with employees they don’t normally spend much time with, ask a new employee to review your procedures after their first two weeks, force yourself to strike up a conversation with that interesting looking stranger in the VEE lounge?
