The 900 people on a mission to rebuild Egypt

Jonah Hill Packs on Pounds

It's staff meeting time for the biggest retail brand you've never heard of, which at Kathy Ireland Worldwide means marching up the hills outside Santa Barbara to the eponymous founder's mission-style home for a corporate version of "I'm OK, You're OK." As the coastal air tempers the bright California sun, 15 staffers dressed in casual black sprawl on the plush sofas or sit cross-legged on the floor. An Academy Award rests nonchalantly on an end table, lending a surreal touch. "Don't ask about the Oscar," one of Ireland's confidants says to me furtively. (It was from another fashion diva with a flair for retail, Elizabeth Taylor.)

Christine Lagarde's mission to save the global economy

Which billion-euro space mission will Europe launch in the early 2020s?