(of a policy or person or action) controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens
descriptive of any event or stimulus or process that has an effect on events or stimuli or processes that occur subsequently; "proactive inhibition"; "proactive interference"
Proactive actions are intended to cause changes, rather than just reacting to change. In order to survive the competition a company should be proactive not reactive. making things happen or change rather than reacting to events
Action before a stimulus (opposite of reactive) A proactive maintenance department acts before a breakdown
The use of knowledge and experience to prevent problems or unwanted situations from reoccurring
(of a policy or person or action) controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens descriptive of any event or stimulus or process that has an effect on events or stimuli or processes that occur subsequently; "proactive inhibition"; "proactive interference
() pro- + active; originally coined 1933 by Paul Whiteley and Gerald Blankfort in a psychology paper, used in technical sense.OEDWhiteley, Paul L.; Blankfort, Gerald (1933), “The Influence of Certain Prior Conditions Upon Learning”, Journal of Experimental Psychology (APA) 16: 843–851 Used in a popular context and sense (courage, perseverance) in 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning by neuropsychiatrist Viktor Emil Frankl|Viktor Emil Frankl]], in the context of dealing with the Holocaust, as contrast with reactive. Popularized in the US in the 1970s in management and business setting by Alain Paul Martin|Alain Paul Martin]].