map that can be displayed and will often choose the symbolic
indicators for which way to turn in preference to a pictorial map.
If I am using it I choose the pictorial map with the largest scale
possible. When traveling through France I like to see where we
are in the context of the whole country, whereas my husband
likes to see the details and names of the immediate vicinity. So
we tend to switch from one form of display to another when we
are together to keep us both satisfied.
What is significant is that the makers had the wisdom to offer
this choice. The ability to offer choice has become a key
differentiator in business. To do so we need to understand the way
our customers think, even if they themselves do not consciously
know (and they probably don’t). It is this awareness of unconscious
need that is so much more important than standard customer
surveys. We don’t know what we don’t know! We need to be able
to offer choices that our customers only realize are important to
them when they experience the difference.
A clue to the way we think is in how we move our eyes. For
example, is there someone near you now who considers
themselves a good speller? Ask them to spell “phenomenon.”
Watch their eyes as they do so. If they are really skilled, ask
them to spell “phenomenon” backwards. Good spellers will
typically look up, eyes right or eyes left, to see the word in
their mind's eye. (Some may look straight ahead but in a
defocused way.) Because they can see it written out they have
no difficulty in spelling it backwards. It is as if it is there on the
page in front of them.
Did your schoolteacher ever say to you: “You won't find the
answer on the ceiling”? The truth is that you probably would!
Your eyes are an indication of how you are thinking. I have
come across managers who when interviewing candidates for a
job have been suspicious of people who break eye contact.
The implication for them is that they may very likely have
recruited people who do not think!
The details of all the eye movements and their meaning are
in Chapter 4, Thinking with your body.
THINKING PATTERNS 19Eye movements