I started my business 17 years ago and it has grown into a solid, pro"table operation. My question is:

where do people like me go for advice on moving to the next level of growth? Most books seem to focus on start-ups and large businesses. We're neither, but we have great people, a great business model and a real "re to create something special.

Jerry Giampaglia, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA A One answer to your question is as close as your phone, although what we are about to suggest may seem like an awkward and even outlandish way to use it.

Pick it up and call companies you see using exciting management breakthroughs, and ask if you can watch them in action. We bet the answer will be. "Sure, let's set it up".

Counterintuitive? Maybe, but we've seen that dynamic play out over and over in the past several years. Indeed, we've found that most people are bursting to talk about their successes with anyone who asks, regardless of the inquiring company's size, public profile or market might. In other words, you don't have to be a big boss or the employee of a famous company to get doors to open. You just need to have the guts to ask for advice.

We're not suggesting, of course, that you contact competitors. But there is a whole world of other companies out there using management practices that could really improve your performance. Armies of companies, for instance, learned about lean manufacturing from Toyota, which proudly opened up its factories like living classrooms. WalMart has likewise shown many visiting companies how to use information technology to fine-tune product availability and better meet customer needs.

But don't just think about calling the usual suspects for advice. Hundreds of companies, if not thousands, are using the Six Sigma quality program, some of them in interesting new ways. The same is true for many up and coming management concepts, such as the customer loyalty measurement called the 'net promoter score'.

The point is: Teachers are everywhere; you just have to find them. And that's not hard . . . the media continuously highlight success stories, often putting the contact point right in front of you. There's a red flag here, however.

Visiting companies to watch them in action can be great, but the exercise is pointless unless your own people are ready, willing and able to embrace outside ideas. If they're not, some adjustment to your culture is probably necessary first.

To do that, you've got to kill any Not Invented Here (NIH) Syndrome floating around your organisation and replace it with a new value of open-mindedness.

You can jumpstart that process by using praise, money and promotions to celebrate employees who find outside ideas and bring them 'back home'. Before you know it, you'll find yourself deluged with good ideas from every quarter.

Bringing the outside in can be daunting, of course, especially in a successful company like yours, but don't let the challenge deter you. If you really want to get to the next level in growth, look everywhere for companies using ideas that can open your eyes, expand your mind and change your ways, and then pick up the phone and call.

Someone will answer.

Q

Why is there an age . . . 60 or 65 . . . when people are required to retire?

A There are as many answers to this question as there are people. Each retirement case has its own specifics having to do with the person, job, company, country and so on. But for the sake of discussion, we'll assume your question pertains to retirement within the S&P 500 world . . . basically, corporations.

In that case, there are generally two answers, because corporations generally have two categories of employees.

First there are the specialists . . . individual contributors with unique, accumulated knowledge.

Given the long and productive lives many people enjoy today, it hardly makes business sense to bid farewell to these valuable employees at some arbitrary age. We say let them decide to work or not, as long as they keep contributing!

But we'd make the opposite case for the second category of people: leaders. The reason is that companies need vitality and change. They can't stay static or they petrify. Too often that's what happens when people in the top layers hang around for a long time. Great people in their 30s and 40s don't want to wait 10 years to get their shot. They want to invigorate the organisation with new ideas and shake things up now, and organisations should let them. With a change of leadership, fresh air pours in the windows of a company and new energy puts extra spark in the place.

That's why, generally speaking, managers in their 60s should take their good economics, well earned over decades, and move on to exciting . . . and different . . . new futures. They'll be giving their companies the same in return.

Jack and Suzy Welch are the authors of the international bestseller Winning. They are eager to hear about your career dilemmas and challenges at work, and look forward to answering your questions in future columns. You can email them questions at Winning@nytimes. com. Please include your name, occupation, city and country.