Judging People is Good For Them—and For You

A rational judgment of a relationship's value to you is based primarily on the person's character and moral values, not merely the material benefits of the relationship.

When I promote the idea of making life decisions—including about what relationships to maintain and invest in—according to a hierarchy of rational values, one of the most common objections I hear is that it's heartless or unkind to judge the people in your life in terms of their value to you. The idea of evaluating relationships rationally sounds cold a…