The Gilchrist Institute was founded in 1984 by Dr. Robert Flower and others who sought to understand the nature of and motivation for human achievement. Dr. Flower's research led to his discovery of the Laws of Potential, a nature-based paradigm that underlies, describes and predicts human behavior.

Dr. Flower has written three books and a downloadable workbook describing "Natural Thinking and Intelligence,"  one of the cornerstones of the Laws of Potential. In Decoding Potential, A Revolution in Understanding, Your Exceptional Mind and How We Analyze, Understand and Decide Things, he describes how our 13 Natural Intellgences define our natural potential and work together to enable human achievement, as well as how to overcome obstacles that restrict our success.