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A Consensus Builder

These days we hear a lot about soft skills, those skills necessary for success and which are different from hard skills, the competencies acquired through education, training, and experience. How fortunate we are in Madison to have a candidate for first selectman who has both skill sets in abundance, Peggy Lyons!

As Peggy’s neighbor and friend for 12 years, I would like to address her soft skills, although her hard skills are certainly impressive: business degrees and experience in the financial sector—she thoroughly understands fiscal responsibility and how to achieve it. But it is in her communication skills, her vision for our town, her leadership qualities of bringing those with divergent viewpoints together, her interpersonal skills of engaging people and really listening to them, her organizational skills as seen from her several positions on various town committees, her authenticity, that I find most impressive about Peggy.

I’ve watched her over these past years, a newcomer to town, make so many friends, always connecting people together, reaching out to lend a helping hand wherever and whenever it was needed (I have gratefully been on the receiving end of her many kindnesses), delving into issues that affect us all with insight, understanding, and common sense. She is a consensus builder of the first order—another quality Madison could really use.

My vote is for Peggy Lyons. I hope it is your readers’, too.

Susan Seidell

Madison