BREAK THE ICE

MONDAY PHRASE: BREAK THE ICE
To “break the ice” is to ease the tension of a first meeting and open the way to real conversation. The phrase appears in Latin through Italian humanist Filelfo, and reaches English through Thomas North’s 1579 translation of Plutarch. The picture behind it is not social at all; it is a boat sent ahead of the others to break the frozen surface of a river so the rest could follow. Someone had to go first, into the hardest part, so the passage could open. THE LESSON? The lead boat gets no reward for going first. It only gets the ice. Yet no one moves until it does. Every awkward room, stalled negotiation, and estranged relationship waits on somebody willing to absorb the discomfort of the first move. Leadership is often just that: being the vessel that takes the impact so others can pass through.