Being Reactive or Proactive

by
Teddy Tandaju MBA Adv.
Lecturer of Unika De La Salle

I once attended a special training on entrepreneurial aspects during a six-week Canadian capacity consolidation activity held at Humber Business School, Toronto, Canada, some time ago.

In one session, we discussed a very interesting topic of being reactive or proactive.

This topic attracted my attention since I had seen these two terminologies were essentially the same.

However, as the discussion of this topic advanced deeper, it turned out that there are, indeed, striking differences between the two.

Seeing the definition of both, according to the Concise Dictionary, reactive means to be ready to act or respond to something.

Conversely, proactive means first active in doing or responding to something. Prefix 'pro' defines 'before'. Thus, proactive gives meaning to it per se as being 'active before doing something'.

If I can illustrate, a proactive person keeps his body healthy by doing sports, consuming vitamins and supplements to keep fit and not susceptible to illness.

A reactive person will only consume drugs/medicines when the body is in a state of illness.

For a clearer example, a person who takes precautions when starting feeling or coming down with a cold before it gets worse is a proactive person.

On the other hand, a reactive person will wait until the cold gets worse then taking a medicine to cure.

I guess the cold will not develop worse once it is blocked or knocked out rather than letting it goes.

It is interesting to see the difference between these two terminologies. The question is, am I a proactive or reactive person?

When our team was given a quiz during the training to determine what type of self we belong to, it appeared most trainees fell into the 'reactive' category.

Why was that? I personally had to propose that our own habitual self-procrastination and unaccustomed to anticipatory self-attitude contributed much in shaping us into a reactive type.