Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Formula  By  cover art

The Formula

By: Ronald F. Ferguson, Tatsha Robertson
Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.00

Buy for $25.00

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

We all want our children to reach their fullest potential - to be smart and well adjusted, and to make a difference in the world. We wonder why, for some people, success seems to come so naturally.

Could the secret be how they were parented?

This book unveils how parenting helped shape some of the most fascinating people you will ever encounter, by doing things that almost any parent can do. You don't have to be wealthy or influential to ensure your child reaches their greatest potential. What you do need is commitment - and the strategies outlined in this book.

In The Formula: Unlocking the Secrets to Raising Highly Successful Children, Harvard economist Ronald Ferguson, named in a New York Times profile as the foremost expert on the US educational "achievement gap," along with award-winning journalist Tatsha Robertson, reveal an intriguing blueprint for helping children from all types of backgrounds become successful adults.

Informed by hundreds of interviews, the book includes never-before-published insights from the "How I was Parented Project" at Harvard University, which draws on the varying life experiences of 120 Harvard students. Ferguson and Robertson have isolated a pattern with eight roles of the "Master Parent" that make up the Formula: the Early Learning Partner, the Flight Engineer, the Fixer, the Revealer, the Philosopher, the Model, the Negotiator, and the GPS Navigational Voice.

The Formula combines the latest scientific research on child development, learning, and brain growth and illustrates with life stories of extraordinary individuals - from the Harvard-educated Ghanian entrepreneur who, as the young child of a rural doctor, was welcomed in his father's secretive late-night political meetings; to the nation's youngest state-wide elected official, whose hardworking father taught him math and science during grueling days on the family farm in Kentucky; to the DREAMer immigration lawyer whose low-wage mother pawned her wedding ring to buy her academically outstanding child a special flute.

The Formula reveals strategies on how you - regardless of race, class, or background - can help your children become the best they can be and shows ways to maximize their chances for happy and purposeful lives.

©2019 Ronald F. Ferguson and Tatsha Robertson (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved, published by arrangement with BenBella Books.

More from the same

What listeners say about The Formula

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    89
  • 4 Stars
    28
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    73
  • 4 Stars
    21
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    82
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

would recommend

the folks out there saying this book is only for those interested on Harvard clearly didnt absorb the theory. these sorts of books are never, what I would consider, an "easy" read, however, they did try to keep the reader engaged. I was convinced, and am fully onboard with the formula, I hope it works for me and my little one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I want to tell all the parents i know about this book

Its very inspiring! Motivates you to do so much more for your kids! I just cant say enough good things about this book! I couldn’t wait to listen to it every time i stopped! Its very informative and I’ve learned a-lot. I love all the different examples. Very good book every parent should listen!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A poorly narrated book of assumptions.

There were a few good takeaways. I was hoping for more strategy and tactics. Instead, the book is filled with a series of unremarkable stories. The narrator is the worst I have listened to on Audible, so far.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

No one size fits all

The Formula as an Audible book was of quality, informative, and relatable. Each story had a connection to the formula of how to raise successful children. I appreciated the author’s transparency that there is no guarantee that it will work for every child.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Book

I did not expect this book to be great due to the low number of reviews, but was very impressed by it. Parenting is a very polarizing topic, however, this book takes a very scientific, methodical approach to analyzing strategies that have worked for successful individuals. I appreciate the way it was written including many intriguing tales of parents raising kids along with a focused narrative on similarities between the different cases. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for advice on parenting, especially individuals of diverse backgrounds and upbringings. The audio performance could use some work through as the dramatizations of the different characters was overly exaggerated and detracted from the overall quality of the content.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

annoying voice

the reader does these super annoying voices to try to show different people are speaking. this got SO annoying I could barely stomach listening and getting the main points. I absolutely hated the performance.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

wonderful considerations to navigate development

this is great structure for considerations in navigating children's development. many of the lessons in this book have direct applicability to our family. While The book is not exhaustive and may not apply to every situation being more geared towards the data from high achieving students rather than those that struggle, the patterns the focus and the mental models are universally applicable. The conclusion of the book pulls it all together by focusing on the children's strength to help boost their capabilities in life, and still confidence, and maximize results. I highly recommend this book in your personal library for child development.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

written from huge privilege

The roles this book proposes for parents to take are great and make sense. but the book focuses on gifted and talented, unprivileged children, so it is not the majority of the cases. The study made to support this book looks really slanted and lacks a critical approach. I do not recommend this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narration is horrible and distracting

The narrator's unnecessary need to try and change her voice for every person quoted in the book is unbelievably distracting and annoying. The material is wonderful, but this is not a Science Fiction novel, just read the book and stop trying to sound like a homeless inner city mother or Coutry Farm boy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book!

Great content with relatable stories! Good concepts that can easily be applied in child raising.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!