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Making Things Better

Fix What's Broken. Before It Breaks You.

Timeless Lessons From Steve Jobs on Fixing What's Broken

A field guide to diagnosing failure, eliminating noise, and restoring coherence at scale - using the repeatable methods Steve Jobs used to rescue Apple.

471 pages ~8 hour read

Join readers fixing what's broken

By Ben Klaiber

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$12.99 (Apple Books) • $19.99 (Print)

Making Things Better book cover

What Makes It Different

This isn't another Steve Jobs biography. It's a diagnostic toolkit for leaders facing broken systems, organizational dysfunction, and the comfortable lies that keep both in place.

Actionable frameworks over inspiration

Diagnostic tools you can use Monday morning

Documented history over mythology

Every lesson backed by verifiable facts

Battle-tested methods

Refined through twenty years of consulting work across industries

Universal application

Frameworks work whether you're running Fortune 500 divisions or five-person startups

"

Breakthrough doesn't come from heroic individuals. It comes from fixing the systems that produce results.

Why This Book Matters Now

Organizations today lose enormous amounts of time and money not to effort or talent gaps—but to information breakdowns: tools that don't talk to each other, workflows that fight human behavior, and systems optimized for reporting instead of reality.

Making Things Better argues that these failures are not inevitable. They are diagnosable, fixable, and often hiding in plain sight. The book provides a practical lens for leaders navigating AI adoption, software sprawl, and operational complexity without sacrificing people or performance.

"This is not about heroic individuals. Breakthrough comes from fixing the systems that produce results."

—From the Introduction

At a time when organizations face pressure to do more with less, this book offers a different approach: diagnose what's broken, eliminate friction systematically, and build environments where talented people can actually do their best work.

Quotable Moments

"Steve Jobs didn't predict the future. He identified the problems everyone else kept hitting and found systematic ways to avoid them. Not magic—metal detectors."

Chapter: Metal Detectors, Not Magic

"Bozos are just a fact of life in business. If you want to be successful, the faster you can identify them, and the more nimble you become in neutralizing their influence, the better off you and your business will be."

Chapter: Bozos Aren't Brilliant

"Vision implies unreplicable genius. Plans imply learnable methods. Vision can't be taught. Plans can be extracted, understood, and applied."

Chapter: Metal Detectors, Not Magic

"The arithmetic most companies get wrong: they measure activity instead of outcomes, process instead of progress, what's easy to track instead of what actually matters."

Chapter: Arithmetic

"'Impossible' often means 'expensive,' 'impractical,' or 'we've never tried.' Those are different problems requiring different solutions."

Chapter: The Glass Ceiling

"Whining asks: 'Why did this happen to us?' Why-ning asks: 'Why did this happen, and how do we prevent it?'"

Chapter: Whining vs. Why-ning

Key Frameworks

Learnable patterns you can apply to any organization, regardless of scale or industry

The Five Surgical Questions

Diagnostic framework for identifying root breaks

The Arithmetic of Dignity

Metrics that actually matter versus vanity KPIs

Metal Detectors, Not Magic

Systematic vigilance over visionary thinking

The Three Types of Bozos

Identifying and neutralizing toxic patterns

Strategic Subtraction

How Apple's product line reduction from 350 to 10 created competitive advantage

Filling the Understanding Vacuum

How to tell your story before critics define it for you

Sample Excerpt

Metal Detectors, Not Magic

In September 1995, while Apple was floundering, Steve Jobs told Fortune magazine: "You know, I've got a plan that could rescue Apple. I can't say any more than that it's the perfect product and the perfect strategy for Apple. But nobody there will listen to me."

Notice what he did not say.

He did not say "I have a vision."
He did not say "I see the future."
He said "I have a plan."

A plan is not magic. It is logic, sequence, and trade-off. It is knowing where the landmines are and how to avoid them.

Yet many still insist Steve's success was supernatural. Some kind of fluke of genius, impossible to replicate. This belief does more than mislead. It disempowers.

It turns leaders into spectators, waiting for a messiah instead of sharpening their own tools.

The truth is simpler and far more useful: Steve did not predict the future. He designed it. And he left a trail of evidence so clear, it's like he handed us the map.

Who This Is For

Anyone responsible for improving how work gets done

CEOs & Executives

  • • Rebuilding troubled companies
  • • Cutting through organizational fog
  • • Creating breakthrough clarity at scale

Chapter 7: The Glass Ceiling

Entrepreneurs & Founders

  • • Fighting for limited resources
  • • Launching something new
  • • Maintaining conviction under pressure

Chapter 12: Whining vs. Why-ning

Product Leaders & Designers

  • • Building technology people want
  • • Distinguishing requests from actual needs
  • • Creating coherent experiences

Chapter 5: Metal Detectors

Consultants & Advisors

  • • Diagnosing real vs. stated problems
  • • Providing measurable frameworks
  • • Cutting through client politics

Chapter 14: Arithmetic

Operations Managers

  • • Fixing frustrating workflows
  • • Systems that stopped serving people
  • • Building helpful processes

Chapter 9: The Copy-Paste Tax

Anyone Who's Thought "There Has To Be a Better Way"

  • • Inherited broken systems
  • • Fighting "how we've always done it"
  • • Wondering why good people produce mediocre results

This entire book is for you

Publisher

Framewise Press

Release Date

December 2025

ISBN (eBook)

978-1-7363032-2-7

Experience

20 years consulting

Look Inside

Steve Jobs didn't predict the future. He identified the problems everyone else kept hitting and found systematic ways to avoid them.

When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he inherited 350 products. Most were confusing, mediocre, or both. Instead of trying to make each one slightly better, he did something more surgical: he cut the product line to ten items organized in a simple grid...

Download Full Sample Chapter

1. Metal Detectors, Not Magic

Systematic problem identification

2. The Five Surgical Questions

Root cause diagnosis framework

3. Arithmetic of Dignity

Measuring what actually matters

4. Strategic Subtraction

When less is exponentially more

5. Whining vs. Why-ning

From complaint to correction

6. Bozos Aren't Brilliant

Identifying and neutralizing dysfunction

7. You Already Know How to Do This

Pattern recognition in problem solving

8. The Three Things Every Broken System Needs

Core elements of system repair

9. 'Mere Marketing' Myths

Understanding true value creation

10. The Storm Before the Calm

Managing transition periods

11. The Turnaround

Executing organizational recovery

12. Credibility vs Incredibility

Building lasting trust

13. Returning From the Point of No Return

Recovery from critical failure

14. Stop Assessing, Start Arranging

Action over analysis

15. Find the Common Thread

Pattern recognition across problems

16. Drop the 'I' Off - Turn Can't into Can

Removing barriers to execution

17. Protect the Passion

Sustaining team motivation

18. Now go fix what's broken

Taking action on your insights

What Early Readers Are Saying

"Confrontational"

This book challenges every comfortable assumption about how organizations work.

"Essential"

Finally, a book that addresses what's actually broken in modern organizations.

"Actionable"

Not theory — these are frameworks you can use on Monday morning.

Documented History, Not Mythology
No Fluff Guarantee
Actionable Frameworks

About the Author

@bklaiber

Ben Klaiber

Ben Klaiber is Founder and Principal Workflow & Experience Architect at MMWB Inc., where he has spent twenty years helping organizations identify what's actually broken versus what people say is broken.

He's walked into startups burning cash on tools that don't talk to each other, mid-market firms drowning in their own data, and enterprises where everyone knew the dashboard was lying but nobody knew how to fix it.

20+ years

Consulting across Fortune 500 divisions and five-person startups

Founder, MMWB Inc.

Principal Workflow & Experience Architect

Author

Making Things Better: Timeless Lessons From Steve Jobs

Speaking & Consulting Inquiries

Ready to Fix What's Broken?

Stop accepting broken workflows as inevitable. Start fixing what's draining your organization.

Get on Amazon Apple Books

471 pages • $12.99 (Apple Books) • $19.99 (Print)

Contact

Media@mmwbinc.com 567-249-5075 @bklaiber

© 2025 Ben Klaiber. All rights reserved. Published by Framewise Press.

Fix What's Broken. Before It Breaks You.

471 pages of actionable frameworks

Get on Amazon Apple Books