Build Your Culture Like Zappos Does

File this one under the "Hmmmmm, that's kinda cool!" category.  In this Inc. Magazine article, Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh talks about why he (reluctantly) sold his company to Amazon. 

What stood out to me, was his take on keeping his company's famous culture alive, even as they grow:

I've noticed that at company happy hours, you don't see as manyemployees from different departments hanging out with one another.

To address that, we've begun tracking employee relationships. Whenemployees log in to their computers, we ask them to look at a pictureof a random employee and then ask them how well they know that person-- the options include "say hi in the halls," "hang out outside ofwork," and "we're going to be longtime friends." We're starting to keeptrack of the number and strength of cross-departmental relationships --and we're planning a class on the topic. My hope is that we can havemore employees who plan to be close friends.

Imagine a law firm doing that!