Eric Liu

What does it mean to be an engaged American in today’s divisive and divided political landscape? How can we come together to restore hope, revive democracy and feel part of a connected community? Eric Liu confronts these questions, celebrates the shared values and beliefs that unite us as Americans, and provides an action plan for powerful citizenship. Drawn from his hit TED talk and his new book Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility and Democracy, Liu challenges us to rehumanize our politics and rekindle a spirit of love and responsibility in civic life.

Eric Liu believes this is a time to organize, to join something useful, to become literate in power and to connect the dots from a long American history of excluding and alienizing Asian Americans to the casual violence perpetrated today against them. Learn how Asian Americans have always been presumed foreign until proven otherwise and how to surpass that history by encouraging people in your families and communities to get involved politically. By practicing civic power and rewriting the American narrative through organizations such as Liu’s Citizen University, we can all begin to claim this country. In this global moment, few things are more American than an Asian American dream. It’s on all of us together — not only those of us who look like the victims — to make that dream a reality.

Are you understanding your employees, customers, markets, community and other stakeholders from the vantage point of the new American identity? More importantly, are you leveraging it as a competitive advantage? According to Eric Liu, we have already evolved from the “monocultural” (“whiteness as Americanness”) to the multicultural (which put nonwhite groups into their own categories). Now, America is rapidly evolving to a new stage: the “omnicultural”—enlivened by hybrids and combinations of culture and identity that America generates first and most creatively. Drawing upon his work as director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship & American Identity Program, Liu believes that this new omnicultural American identity will not only sustain, but invigorate the creativity, cultural influence and other competitive advantages of American diversity. In this thought-provoking talk, Liu shares how the organizations that embrace omniculturalism will be better suited to innovate and lead in a rapidly changing, increasingly hybridized marketplace, culture, and polity.

Far too many Americans are illiterate in power — what it is, how it operates, who has it, and why. Too many of us give our power away. And those few who do understand power end up wielding it over everyone else. In this compelling talk about power and civic purpose, based on his acclaimed book, Eric Liu explores how you can activate your civic power to bypass broken institutions and solve big problems. He shares three core laws of civic power, reveals how power and character are related, and reawakens your spirit of active citizenship.

A whopping 81% of millennials expect companies to publicly pledge to be good corporate citizens. Gen Z, first entering the workforce in 2019, is expected to have an even stronger commitment. What does it mean for a corporation to be a “good citizen”? How can companies make strong civic engagement a part of a corporate culture that engages, empowers, attracts and retains workers? In this inspiring talk — which can serve as a powerful kick-off for your organization’s civic initiatives or as a challenge to the business community to show up as bigger citizens — Liu will motivate your team to do more and be more.

According to civic evangelist Eric Liu, “We cannot move the dial on health, public health and health outcomes until we address the underlying layer of civic health. The health of the body depends on the health of the body politic. This means addressing loneliness, isolation, inequality and a system that leaves some people so sick and cut out of the loop that they fall into a downward spiral of both physical and civic isolation.” In this thought-provoking and inspiring talk, Eric Liu calls on healthcare providers, leaders, and activists to work collaboratively to help stitch back the social fabric of what citizenship means. By driving a civic revival, as individuals and institutions, we will also drive a revival in the health of individuals, communities, our democracy and our nation.

As CEO of Citizen University, Eric Liu is one of America’s leading advocates for civics education and the promotion of active citizenship. Liu’s determination to make civics as important today as it was during the American Revolution or Civil Rights Movement was a key message in his 2013 TED Talk on power. The talk, which has had more than two million views, has also captured the attention of educators yearning for a renaissance in civics education. In this inspiring keynote for teachers, curriculum developers and anyone who would like to advance the teaching of civics in America’s classrooms, Liu outlines his powerful message: Power + Character = Citizenship. He also assesses the state of civics education in America, sharing how we can all become persuasive proponents as civics programs start to be considered again in curriculum planning.

In this era when higher education is under so much pressure to be a commodity and a product, let's remember that one of the core purposes of college is to prepare students for self-government. Two of the core questions of all civic life are these: How shall we live together? And who decides? Colleges and universities can be doing more to equip young people with the civic skills, values, and habits they need to be able to answer those questions in a way that enables the mass multiracial democratic republic that is the United States to survive and thrive. Eric Liu, CEO of Citizen University and co-chair of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences “Our Common Purpose” commission on civic renewal, will share inspiring ideas and concrete practices for everyone in the higher education ecosystem.

We live in a culture of hyperindividualism where almost every message we get, from every screen we scan, tells us that we are on our own and beholden to none. Yet far from feeling free, we feel entrapped in digital isolation, enslaved by consumerism and suffering from status anxiety. How can we escape to find love, joy and purpose? In this clarion call to “rehumanize,” Eric Liu brings us back to the essence of who we are. As humans, we are hard-wired for connection, yearn for face-to-face fellowship and are happiest when we are part of a group with a common purpose. Citing as an example the “Civic Saturdays” phenomenon his organization sparked, he calls on all of us to live as though our fate is entwined with others — because it is. Not just for the good we will do for society, but for the powerful good that we will do for ourselves.