Ruth Glendinning

The Ideationist

“Ideation comprises all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization.”

I am the Founding Principal ofThriving Community Solutions, where I serve as Chief Ideationist with a deep commitment to growing relationships for the purpose of creating accessible, inclusive, engaging, and thriving communities in which technology is used to provide pathways to shared wellbeing for all. I write a weekly blog forNeighborhood Economics, spending a large portion of my time researching trends, reading global stories and identifying economic patterns. The core of what I do is fulfilling my role as the relationship builder/connector/creative partner on projects that are using some of my original solutions, mapped to real needs in the market, catalyzed by expanding technology and activated by personal relationships. You can call me GuRuth.

Born in London UK, grew up in Texas, lived in the Caribbean, California and Oklahoma where I worked with Choctaw Nation, before replanting my roots in Austin, Texas. I am a social impact entrepreneur and innovator working with clients in the local, national and global arenas focusing on grassroots entrepreneurship with a special emphasis on women’s work, including food and craft accelerators. All of which is part of a bigger vision of community-driven economy keeping wealth local.

Underlying all of this is my passion for inclusion and accessibility, a message that became a driver for my work thanks to my late husband Keith Hogan who had a form of Muscular Dystrophy called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, whose story was captured in The Lucky Mutant.

I have developed the model of cultural strategy demonstrating the importance of creating a balance between community, culture & commerce for sustainable economy. I trademarked the “SLOW Tech® Incubator” (Sustainable Local Organic Work + Technology) concept in which specific technology is added to no-or low-tech community-based human-scale businesses to better equip them to thrive. Ultimately SLOW Tech® is about using technology to improve the human experience, rather than distract from it.