How Do You Define Proactive?

The other day, a firm's on-hold message told me:

"We provide proactive solutions anytime you have a question."

Uh, okay...

Comments

[Gina]

That's funny!

I tell all my new clients that I want THEM to be proactive. I'm not a mind reader. I do not know if they are thinking of buying a new house, selling stock, having a child, investing in a business, etc. They need to tell me what their "life" plans currently are so I can provide them with choices of how to carry out their transactions such that they pay the lowest tax permissible by law.

Maybe the firm you were on hold with has a time traveling machine (like the Ohio chiropracter who recently surrendered his license) and after knowing what their problem is can go back in time and take a proactive approach to helping them!

[Julie]

I avoid using the word "proactive" if I possibly can, and I'm sad to see it becoming so entrenched in our language. I like its meaning, but the word itself must have been invented by a bureaucrat! It's just a dull, sterile word that never connects on an emotional level with a reader or listener. There's always a better way to say, "We act so that you don't have to react!" I once worked for somebody who prohibited the entire staff from using "proactive" in any written form. It was a good rule.