1. Follow your intellectual curiosity.
Zakaria explains that a liberal education is about following your intellectual curiosity, whatever you do. He suggests that if you are interested in a subject, get into it more deeply. Zakaria says:"Go further than Wikipedia. Talk to real experts. Read books. You will develop an understanding of what real knowledge looks like. It is more than just web surfing, and being a consumer of stuff. Going deep helps you develop the ability to become a producer of stuff. It feeds your ability to do that through your entire life."
Zakaria suggests exploratory activity. "Going through a great museum feeds you in a different way than reading a book, listening to music, or dealing with a challenge at work. If you feed all of the different parts of your mind and your spirit, you can make all kinds of different connections. Learn to enjoy the process."
2. Pay attention to good writing.
Zakaria believes (and I agree) that writing is at the core of communication, especially in today's electronic environment. Good writers can sell ideas and sell themselves. Great leaders must be able to communicate well in order to get people to listen to them. Zakaria describes in his book the writing process that Jeff Bezos demands from Amazon executives: Bezos makes them write multipage, detailed narratives when submitting proposals or opinions. Zakaria argues that unlike verbal communication, writing doesn't allow logical gaps or lack of clarity. He emphatically states: "Learn to write! Read all the time and ask yourself what makes something good writing."
3. Learn how to interact with people.
Zakaria makes the case that a liberal arts education better teaches interpersonal interaction. He argues: "We don't think of [interpersonal connection] as part of a liberal education, but it is. College is inherently social. You take part in classes and in extracurricular activities. It doesn't seem like learning, but learning to work in teams and interact with other people is crucial. I asked the CEO of Time Warner, 'What is the skill that is most valuable in business that doesn't get taught in a classroom?' He said teamwork. Making people want to work with you. That explains why some people get promotions, or funding, etc., and other people don't."
4. Cultivate unfamiliar ideas.
The whole idea of a liberal arts education is to expose you to ideas and brilliance beyond your existing world. The very act of integrating the ideas of smart people into your daily life exercises your cognitive skills. Zakaria says: "Think outside of your experience, or your disciplines. The most interesting ideas come from the confluence, the intersections of disciplines. This is why people with an artistic background who go into business succeed. They really do bring something unique. The more boxes and points of context you have between them, the better the ideas will be. We are drowning in information, and very little knowledge."According to Zakaria, great leadership and success come more from open, emotional discovery than from focusing on simple facts and narrow practices.