Who Breaks the Ice? (Ian)

Imagine this - 2 strangers, placed in a room together and required to get to know each other. Putting aside personality differences, who is responsible for taking the 1st step to break the ice? I'm inclined to believe that, with personality differences put aside, the responsibility is then equally shared. I'm also inclined to believe most will agree with my standpoint (or am I wrong in this inclination?).

Now, what if the players are now different - between a manager and a subordinate? Again, putting aside personality differences, who is responsible for taking the 1st step to break the ice? Is it the manager? Is it the subordinate? Or both? Or neither (it's purely an issue with personality)???

I'm a firm believer in taking the responsibility, no matter with whom I'm trying to establish a relationship (a potential friend, a family member, a girl I'm interested in, a colleague, my manager, etc.) to make the 1st move, and subsequent moves, to facilitate the relationship building process. I believe both parties need to break the ice. Why? Simply because, you want to get to know the other person, and you want him/her to get to know you. You want to understand and accept, and be understood and accepted. I believe in relationship-building, all parties are equals.

However, my experiences, both personal and from observation of others, lead me to conclude otherwise - if you are a manager, you're in for challenging times. But why must this be so? Is it just a question of personality types, or are we in actual fact, developing a dangerous mindset? Do we leave it to the manager to make the 1st move? If he's/she's trying, do we facilitate?