The gig: Consultant Jon Taffer, 60, is the star and executive producer of the Spike TV reality series "Bar Rescue," now in its fourth season. He's the author of the 2013 business book "Raise the Bar: An Action-Based Method for Maximum Customer Reactions." In the show and the book, Taffer lays out his strategy of "reaction management," which involves shaping customer response to improve sales.
Shaking things up: Taffer's style is direct, with no punches pulled. In the first year of "Bar Rescue," for example, he transformed a dive in Corona called Angel's into Racks: Billiards and Bourbon.