Decoding Potential: The Science of Achievement: Pathways to Understanding [Paperback]

Robert J. Flower (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 267 pages
• Publisher: Gilchrist Institute; 2nd Edition/Revised edition (August 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975050109
• ISBN-13: 978-0975050101
• ASIN: 097595010X
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,284,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you Truly Fulfilling Your Potential?, December 14, 2005

By 

Glenda A Bixler "Glenda" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

As I read Decoding Potential by Dr. Robert J. Flower, I realized that my first response was an internal, "At Last!" Then I began to "Yes . . . But..." This was followed closely by my ongoing internal response related to my own long-term administrative career formulated against what was being said. Dr. Flower has answers that are badly needed in today's world. It is this reviewer's hope that he is successful in finding acceptance and methods by which his revolutionary system can become the "norm" for both the individual and our country's organizations.

The first book provides an in-depth comparative analysis of present and past-day thinking on Potential together with a definition and overview of what he defines as our innate natural thinking and intelligences (NATI) which provides the pathways to understanding.

From the first page in the Introduction, with the question, "When you die, God will ask just one question: `What did you do with what I gave you?'" Dr. Flower challenges us to think in new ways. He points out that we have not even begun to grasp the notion of "unlimited potential."

In the traditional sense of academic study, the "problem" is quickly defined. For whatever reasons, members of today's society use shortcuts and bypass the rules; that is, they fall out of their state of natural goodness and virtue and into a state of non-compliance and duplicity, inventing their own standards of value. We've all seen that order breaks down, chaos reigns and there is, in general, a real and dangerous "disconnection" between various members of society. Further, "people make rules but then position themselves so that the rules do not apply to them." (p. 18).

Dr. Flower quickly provides the answer: redirect our focus and our concepts to utilize the development of potential as our major life purpose. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, let's consider the following features of this holistic system:

· Its understanding of polarity

· Its non-judgmental approach

· Its sense of systems

· The significance of virtue

· Nature as a behavioral and thinking system (pps. 18-19)

Using a basic matrix of his thirteen intelligences, Flower takes us through a major research review. The research is directly relevant, the documentation substantial, and the examples realistic. Indeed, including well-known historical figures such as Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, and even the legendary Mr. Spock from Star Trek, he provides excellent examples of what is possible through the application of our innate intelligences.

To me, the most significant contribution of this book lies with the author's express belief that we are in a "fine mess" here in the United States. Pointing out that we see non-productive unhealthy aspects of human personality surrounding us, Dr. Flower highlights that the "next step in mankind's evolution is neither fight nor flight. It is a willingness to face issues in order to grow and develop. By reaching for greater potential, man can create a new paradigm capable of regulating all of his customs and institutions." P. 43.

Having worked within a university environment for nearly 40 years, it was natural for me to visualize Decoding Potential as a university text. Indeed, I was pleased to learn that Dr. Flower's next book, Decoding Potential-A Revolution in Understanding-is about 60% completed, and will take us to the next step with more real-life examples and clear applications of decoding our own potential. As a long-time student in self-development, I have often found that self-actualization, the development of our fullest potential, cannot be fully accomplished without a more universal acceptance. That is, we can move forward to decode our potential, but unless we as a society can move toward universal acceptance of such a system, we still face that "fine mess" now seen in America.

Walk through the Decoding Potential web site Buy the first book and look for the next book. Check the site for the various programs. This is not just a "must-read" book to sit on your bookshelf; it is a commitment to yourself. Get Decoding Potential, study it, and be prepared for the "Revolution" that just might move across the nation!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to the self-help study lists, January 13, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

In "Decoding Potential: Pathways To Understanding, Robert J. Flower has provided unusually insightful and occasionally non-intuitive responses to the stresses that we are all subject to in this so-called "modern" world. More than just offering the reader a litany of social and personal problems, Flower has devised practical, effective, holistic, and thoroughly "user friendly" methods by which a rather revolutionary system for self-help and self-improvement can be realized on a personal, organizational, community, and even national basis. Decoding Potential offers an in-depth cognitive and comparative analysis of what is meant by "potential", along with a definition and an overview human innate natural thinking processes and biologically based discernable intelligences by which we can come to a new and quite promising understanding of ourselves, our relationships, and our world. Flower has developed a basic matrix of what he has termed "thirteen intelligences", based upon meticulous research enhanced with accessible illustrations and examples. Scholarly, erudite, thoughtful and thought-provoking, Decoding Potential is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to the self-help study lists of non-specialist general readers, as well as an intellectually stimulating contribution to academic discussions, and socio- psychological collegiate library reference collections.