Dean Cycon’s message on Sunday was a simple one: a modern-day business can be profitable and also have strong moral values. 

“I became a businessman to help change the system from within,” said Cycon, founder and CEO of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee. “We need people in all forms to enact social justice.”

Cycon, the latest speaker to take the pulpit for this summer’s Monadnock Lyceum, started Dean’s Beans in 1993 as a way to follow through with his moral beliefs, most notably by making sure that coffee bean farmers in developing countries are given fair wages and the tools and opportunities to bolster their local economy. 

“It’s about empowering communities to be able to run their own projects, which are created based on needs they determine,” said Cycon, who said he pays above market value for his coffee beans. “We work to create co-ops that the farmers manage. It’s about change, not charity.”

Cycon said that most business owners and executives mean well, but often fall short of creating a company that is sustainable both financially and morally. Cycon said much of the problem stems from a lesson that many in business school learn: profit maximization and company growth over all else.

“I don’t believe that growth should be the goal in business,” said Cycon. “Growth is the outcome of business done well.”

Cycon said he was once offered a chance to partner with Whole Foods, a move that could have dramatically increased business and profits, but he turned it down. Cycon said he would rather run a smaller-scale business where he could pay his employees and farmers a fair wage. 

“All business is values based, but the business needs to reflect the needs that you want it to,” said Cycon. “Real change is when the the people you work with don’t feel like business.”

The Monadnock Lyceum’s final speaker of the summer on Aug. 21 will be Sy Montgomery, who will delve into the intellect and emotions of octopi, in her speech titled “The Soul of An Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness.” Her talk will start at 11 a.m. 

Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. He is also on Twitter @nhandyMLT.