Talk:Proactivity

This meagre discussion could without loss of content be subsumed under the "management" heading of proactive. As discussed there, the restriction of meaning to "contrary of reactive" is quite a misunderstanding. -- Kku (talk) 16:50, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Alain Martin's Opinion —Preceding undated comment was added at 04:52, 18 November 2008 (UTC).

Merging under a single Web page is a food for thought. However, caution should be exercised to avoid confusing readers. It is common and frequently healthy for disciplines to borrow from each other and evolve in different directions. Proactive Thinking has evolved beyond its narrow psychological roots and workplace references cited in Proactive Behavior. Its focus is on strategy and governance in complex issues facing all four levels of social systems: individuals, teams, organizations and communities; as i have indicated in the substantive material added today to further illustrate the framework originally sumamrized by Umberto Wyatt. As for the syllogism Proactivity, it has been the subject of debate among management scientists, Gestalists and other psychologists because being Proactive is anything but pro activity, as any decision-maker approached random may tell you. Merging both pages could further confuse readers with an overly lengthy article containing a hefty dose of syllogisms. I would suggest bidirectional links but I am only one opinion. I welcome other ideas and would gladly respond, with time permitting.

P.S.: I am sorry to assert that contrary to Ms/Mr. Kku comment that the restriction of meaning of proactive as "contrary of reactive" is indeed mistakenly well entrenched in the real world. I would gladly go deeper into this if you like, but just take a quick acid test by searching, under all words, for proactive and reactive. The response is a staggering 1,390,000 pages, reflecting a real misunderstanding in the public mindset. As an educator and advisor to business, government and NGOs, I constantly remind my audiences and interlocutors to look beyond the proactive/reactive defacto myopia, to be more innovative and search for roads less travelled.

Alain Martin

proactive inhibition
This is at best a very loosely related concept, but is not the same thing as what we now usually think of sa being proactive, where we are not inhibiting a response on the basis of prior experience, but using prior experience for stimulating one. Frankl's proactive approach to life problems is also only related, though closer. I think it would be better to expand this initially, before trying to split into separate articles.  DGG ( talk ) 03:23, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

Stephen Covey's First Habit
I think one of the major disseminator of this word is Stephen Covey. In his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People this is the first habit. This book was sold 15 million times. Quote from the above wiki entry: Be Proactive Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life's principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the consequences that follow. This approach helps wiki users to really grasp, what this concept is about. So if you consider it OK I would write a paragraph about it in the main article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zbalai (talk • contribs) 10:18, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Other uses
Recently we see this word being used in biology and in nutritional topics to mention some enzyme like substances present in curds and many other body excretions such as faese, urine, in fluids from entrails. This new usage also should be mentioned here. Pathare Prabhu (talk) 12:12, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Proactive, Page (2003), Covey, Frankl
In the "History" section, the current writing says "Frankl used the word". Following through the footnoted link, Page (2003) writes about Covey, and then cites Frankl as an example. Searching the text of Man's Search for Meaning finds the word "active", but not "proactive". The original text was written in German, so there could be a translation issue, but this wiki page isn't quite correct on sourcing. Daviding (talk) 16:17, 11 May 2019 (UTC)