A Rich Blend of People and Profit
There’s a reason Dean Cycon’s coffee-roasting company, Dean’s Beans, uses 100% fair-trade beans. It’s not because it sounds good in the company tagline, or because it’s popular among the “ethical consumer”. It’s because anything less than 100% would mean that some of the farmers he buys from get the chance to improve their lives and some of them don’t—and that just doesn’t seem right.
When you think in those terms, fair-trade has little to do with market price and standards, and everything to do with an ethical approach that guides your work. But that’s just the kind of guy Dean is. He operates not to move a product or improve brand perception, but to aid people in creating better lives. His product is just a way to help him get there.
Check out our interview below.
You can find coffee literally at every corner. What makes Dean’s Beans special?
Dean’s Beans was founded on the principle that business can and should be a vehicle for positive social, environmental and economic change. Every decision we make gets filtered through that ethical lens.
Since we have long term, respectful relationships with all of the farmers we buy from in fourteen countries, we know that they give us their best coffee in return. That’s not just hype, that is what the farmers tell us and our independent cupping bears that out.
A consumer can be assured that everybody in the supply chain is being treated respectfully, fairly and being assisted to realize their life’s goals as well. We do this through our People-Centered Development program, where we co-design with the farmers development projects that address their highest community priorities.
There are many companies that are into charity, but not necessarily social change. How do you distinguish between them?
Charity is an important thing, but it is not about change, it is about maintenance and help.
Many smaller companies don’t have direct relations with the farmers, buying through brokers instead. So charitable giving to organizations like Coffee Kids (which I co-founded in 1988) or Grounds for Health is the only way for those companies to give something back.
But charity does not require the giver to change their own behavior, only to give when they feel moved to do so. In order to participate effectively in social change, we must look at our own part of the equation and realize that we are participating in a system that will keep coffee farmers poor and disempowered forever. Social change requires us to change our behavior as well, to break the cycle of trade relationships that took advantage of or even created underdevelopment in those lands.
How have you seen socially responsible business evolve over the last 16 years?
Many businesses are trying to incorporate aspects of social responsibility into their operations. I applaud all of those efforts. At the same time I have to make two observations.
First, social responsibility is not just another product on the shelf, it is an ethical construct that should inform all of your behavior. So it is really not enough to be “socially responsible” in your labor relations with your workers while you are a massive polluter. It can’t be compartmentalized if there is ever going to be real, lasting change.
Second, many companies use social responsibility as a marketing tool, with no serious commitment. Some companies spend massive amounts of money advertising their meager participation on fair trade or other socially responsible movements, but they have no company-wide commitment.
As a social movement, however, social responsibility is here to stay. It has evolved into an integral part of corporate thinking, and I have seen this all over the world through my work with FAO and the UN Global Compact. Now the fun begins as the battle between serious integration of the concept and manipulation for marketing purposes gets into full swing. But that is always the tension in social movements.
Companies have to change their behavior, but consumers do as well, right? Is it just a chicken and egg situation?
Change is like a wave on the shore. It starts somewhere out there and swells with momentum. We only see the end product.
Companies only change their behavior in response to momentum from the public. The most clever or responsible ones see the momentum sooner and take action out of sincere commitment or just to capture an emerging market.
So it really begins with society at large, not necessarily the particular company’s consumer. How it all begins is a mystery, but where it goes from there is not. I have heard so many companies say they respond to consumer demand, that’s when they will change their behavior. Yet at the same time these companies put out information that lulls the consumer into believing that the problem is being addressed, even though the change at the company level is cosmetic and the commitment meager.
So what are the benefits of this kind of serious integration?
If the companies truly integrate social responsibility into their decision making, the benefits are enormous.
First of all, our environment benefits, as an important aspect of social responsibility is care for the environment. That benefits all of us, although it is so difficult to quantify the benefits for an individual (they are there!).
Second—and again, this is hard to quantify, but that to me is not the final judge of something’s worth—social responsibility can go a long way towards peace-building in the world.
Believe me, I have seen so many times the result of treating people in the developing world with respect. People who feel respected and hopeful that their lives and their children’s lives will be better are far less likely to blow themselves up or firebomb a church. I don’t take that lightly.
