Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1090

In response to President Trump’s proposed immigration bill, Brookings recently analyzed census data from earlier this year to demonstrate the importance of immigration for growth within much of the United States. 

I’d like to share three tables from their analysis .

The first two look at international migration grains and domestic migration gains over the last 3 decades (the last decade isn’t quite a decade).

Here you can see that New York, Los Angeles, and Miami (all port cities) have dominated international migration to the US since 1990. But at the same time, international migration has become less geographically concentrated. From 1990-2000 the top 5 cities received almost half of all immigrants moving to the US. More recently, that number has dropped to 34%.

Domestic migration is different in that it’s a zero sum game. When one US city gains, another US city loses. Here there is a very clear migration trend toward cities in the southwest – arguably because of weather, job growth, cheaper housing, and probably a bunch of other factors.

If we look at actual international and domestic migration numbers over the last 6 years, the 12 largest metropolitan areas look like this:

The key takeaways here are that 8 of these cities are losing people to domestic migration and only 7 of these cities have a positive net migration number – meaning their population is actually growing.

What is clear is that the international migration column is a pretty important one if you believe that growth is valuable. 

If you’re Dallas, Houston or Atlanta, maybe you care a little less about that column. But for most of the other cities, international migration is either the only way you’re growing (look at Miami go) or keeping your population losses in check (see Philadelphia).

Some of the most successful people I have ever met in business are also some of the funniest people I have ever met. This, of course, isn’t universally true. But I don’t think it’s pure coincidence. These are people you want to be around and do business with. 

There’s lots of research out there to suggest that humor is an incredible way to build relationships and strengthen workplace cultures. Joel Stein recently penned an article about this at Stanford Business called Humor Is Serious Business . Naturally the article itself is also funny. Here is an excerpt:

“The reason humor works as a bridge (just go with it) is that laughter sparks the release of oxytocin, a hormone that facilitates social bonding, increases trust, and quickens self-disclosure. This is key in a workplace since all the other ways to release oxytocin are no longer permitted by Human Resources. In a 2015 study, psychologists Alan Gray, Brian Parkinson, and Robin Dunbar had participants watch either a funny or neutral video clip before engaging in a self-disclosure exercise with a stranger: People who watched the funny clip revealed 30% more personal information relative to those who watched the neutral clip.”

The article goes on to talk about how humor at the negotiating table can lead to increased concessions and how, if you’re in a senior position and you make fun of yourself, people tend to assume you’re highly confident in your abilities. It also humanizes you.

One of the interesting things about this topic is that, according to research by Stanford professor Jennifer Aaker and lecturer Naomi Bagdonas, most of us fall off a “humor cliff” when we enter the workforce. That’s roughly the moment where we start laughing less and finding stuff less funny.

We shouldn’t let that happen and I’m going to make a concerted effort. Not just because of business, but because laughter is good for you.

Earlier this week I posted this teaser photo  on social (full photo above) and said to stay tuned for a big announcement. Well, that announcement is here and you can read all about it over on the Globizen blog . Please let me know what you think in the comment section below.