One Smile at a Time: How an Accidental Do-Gooder Helped Change the Lives of Millions of Children and Their Communities

Former advertising executive Mullaney tells how he and entrepreneur Charles Wang achieved success with a nonprofit charity, Smile Train (which trains local doctors and funds cleft lip and palate surgeries in developing countries), using a business model. Explaining his focus on a non%E2%80%93life-threatening but physically and emotionally scarring birth defect, Mullaney says that correcting a cleft is a "medical miracle" for children and adults in poverty-stricken areas. With obvious delight, he describes Smile Train's achievements (pioneering virtual surgery software); with equal humility, he admits to errors (assuming that business solutions could fix every problem). Mullaney provides vivid accounts of his trips overseas, and compelling arguments for working to benefit others. (Aug.)