Phoenix Suns Owner Shares Happiness Tips

In his years as a successful entrepreneur creating and selling corporations to the likes of Coca-Cola and Kimberly-Clark, Richard Jaffe, one of the owners of the Phoenix Suns, found a few constants to guide him in business and in life. “Love myself; live my values, and learn to give back,” says Jaffe, who gained respect as an inspirational leader. The most important of these and the key to happiness, he says, is learning to love himself. It’s a recurring theme in the poetry he’s been writin

Richard Jaffe is one of the owners of the NBA Phoenix Suns basketball team, a successful business leader and longtime philanthropist. Most recently the CEO of Safe Life Corp., a medical technology company, he also founded Safe Skin Corp., a latex glove manufacturer (acquired by Kimberly-Clark Corp.) and Nutri-Foods International, a frozen dessert company (sold to the Coca-Cola Co.) for decades and recently published in, “Inner Peace & Happiness: Reflections to Grow Your Soul,” www.richardjaffe.net.

Self-Love is Key

“I’ve found that loving myself is fundamental to my happiness,” he says. “The one person I have a relationship with for my entire life is myself, so it’s essential to make that relationship my priority. When I have the inner peace that comes from loving myself, I don’t have to look to others to fill my emotional needs and wants.”

How does one learn to love him- or herself and to be happy? For Jaffe, it came from living and acting on his values in business and in his personal life, whether he was struggling or succeeding. “These are the things that have worked for me,” he says.

“Values guide my choices, and my choices affect how I feel about myself and how I interact with others.” These are some of the values and tenets that have helped make Jaffe an exceedingly happy man.