Ever had more good ideas than time to pull them off? Welcome to running a business.
That's where the ICE framework we've been using since 2019 could help. It's a popular growth tool for deciding what to tackle first. You score each idea on Impact to the North Star, Confidence that it will work, and Ease of execution. This calculation makes subjective decisions objective and creates conversations that remove emotion. It's simple, it works, and it's a little bit nerdy.
We've used it to steer decision-making with clients for nearly a decade now.
But ICE isn't a neutral word anymore.
You know why.
We're not here to debate it, pick a side, or write a hot take. That's not our lane.
Our lane is helping you grow your business. And when a word turns into a distraction, it stops doing its job. (more like this: What's Really Wrong with the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle Ad)
Words matter
Ever notice your realtor now says "primary bedroom"? One day it just lands: oh. Yeah. That other word carries baggage. And once you hear it, you can't unhear it.
This may seem a little silly, but my business partner shared a small joke from an episode of Last Man on Earth that made me look at the word "guys" differently. The main character, Tandy, is excruciatingly awkward and selfish. But he's also endearing. And through a joke, they make a serious point about language and the baggage that goes along with it. The women poking fun at Tandy for "not being feminist enough" describe the word "guys" as sexist.
This lands hard with Tandy, and from that point on, he commits to swapping it with "gals" to ensure his feminism is unmistakable. And every time he says it, it's awkward to hear, because that's not the norm. But it makes the point. Again and again and again.
Language matters.
Words matter.
None of this is about being perfect or policing anybody. Language shifts. People shift. The smart move is to notice, adjust, and keep going. No guilt spiral necessary.
That's good business, by the way. Your words are part of your brand, and your brand is how people decide whether to trust you. We coach clients on neutral, inclusive language all the time. Time to walk our own talk.
So we added an N
Meet NICE: North Star, Impact, Confidence, Ease.
And honestly? The new letter made the framework better.
ICE has a blind spot. It tells you which ideas are big, likely to work, and easy to pull off. It doesn't tell you whether they're yours. You can score a shiny idea a 9 across the board and still burn six months building something that drags you off course.
The N fixes that. Before you score anything, you ask one question: does this move us toward our North Star?
Your North Star is the one value your business exists to create. It's your grounding decision-making tool for everything. If an idea doesn't line up with it, it doesn't matter how easy or cool it is. Skip it.
NICE ideas only!
- North Star: Does this point us towards our North Star? If the answer is no, stop here.
- Impact: If it works, how big is the payoff?
- Confidence: How sure are you, based on actual evidence and not vibes?
- Effort: How much time, money, and energy will it take to pull this off?
Score Impact, Confidence, and Effort from 1 to 10 (for Effort, lower effort earns a higher score). Rank. Do the top few. Ignore the rest.
That's it. Your ideas get nicer. Your decisions get faster. Your team stops chasing everything at once.
Don't have a North Star yet?
Totally normal. Most business owners don't. They have goals, a to-do list, and a vague sense of "more."
That's exactly why we built the North Star Workshop. In one focused session, you'll find the single metric that matters most to your business, and walk out with a filter you'll use for every decision after.
Register for the next North Star Workshop →
