The Cost of Conviction: How Our Deepest Values Lead Us Astray
Steve Sloman
The MIT Press (May 2025)

How and why decisions based on deepest values can sometimes lead us astray

Steve Sloman explains how the mind works and how people think. What he shares in The Cost of Conviction is what he has learned thus far during forty years of research about “how individuals as well as organizations, communities, and other groups decide what to do.” (Check out the Notes, Pages 217-237.) Much of his and reader’s attention is directed to what he characterizes as some decisions based on  “sacred values” (Chapters 2 and 3) and others based on “consequentialism” (Chapters 4-9).

“The book’s focus is on how we think when making decisions, but much of the study of decision-making concerns processes that we are not aware of. [Continue on Page 12]

These are among the questions to which Sloman directs his and his reader’s attention:

o When and why are sacred values essential?
o When and why can they be dangerous?
o To what extent do they seem to influence decisions?
o To what extent do potential consequences tend to influence decisions?
o What are usually the primary beliefs when people think about what is or could be?

o How best to simplify choice?
o Which to select, sacred value or consequentialism?
o How to make decisions that do not involve thinking?
o How best to “do the right thing”?

These are Sloman’s concluding thoughts:

“It is true that we must simplify to communicate, especially when the audience is large and varied. Sacred values provide a means to accomplish that. It is also true that leadership requires motivating people. Sacred values provide a means to accomplish that too. But a leadership that has not been fully informed by a disinterested consequentialist analysis is not only going to fail to achieve the best results, but it is violating its sacred duty to its followers.”

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I commend Steven Sloman on his brilliant, substantial contributions to thought leadership throughout the global marketplace and highly recommend this material to all C-level executives and those who aspire to become one as well as to middle managers and to those who are now preparing for a business career or have only recently embarked upon one.

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading The Cost of Conviction: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to the last paragraph of each of the twelve chapters.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.