OALD (of a person or policy) controlling a situation by making things happen rather than waiting for things to happen and then reacting to them
起こるのを待ってそれに反応するのではなく、率先して行動することで状況をコントロールする
Wiktionary Acting in advance to deal with an expected change or difficulty
予期さえれる変化や困難に対処するために前もって行動すること
Usage notes
Some consider proactive to be a buzzword, and it is associated with business-speak. Depending on use, alternatives include active, or “show initiative” instead of “be proactive”.
pro- + active; originally coined 1933 by Paul Whiteley and Gerald Blankfort in a psychology paper, used in technical sense. Used in a popular context and sense (courage, perseverance) in 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning by neuropsychiatrist Viktor Emil Frankl, in the context of dealing with the Holocaust, as contrast with reactive.
Whiteley, Paul L.; Blankfort, Gerald (1933), “The Influence of Certain Prior Conditions Upon Learning”, Journal of Experimental Psychology (APA) 16: 843–851