Escaping to Escape Rooms - Interview with Dr. Grossman, University of Southern California

Dr. Elissa Grossman is Director of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Orfalea Director's Chair in Entrepreneurship, and Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California (USC). Her areas of interest include fads and trends, social networks, educational technology, and entrepreneurship. 

USC’s Lloyd Greif Center 

The prestigious Marshall School of Business is one of several schools at USC. Within Marshall, there are seven different academic units, including the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The center is a hybrid unit because it offers a traditional department as well as events across the founder pipeline, including workshops, fireside chats, and other programs. 

About Dr. Grossman

Dr. Grossman enjoys teaching and creating fun, educational experiences for her students. As a lifelong fan of all sorts of games, I was particularly interested in her research on puzzles and education strategy games. One example is a paper she did on a puzzle called Kenken. The grid-based puzzle requires players to use basic math operations to figure out where each number goes. She used her research to learn about topics that interested her and allowed her to meet other experts in those fields. It also allowed her to connect her two worlds of research and her favorite pastimes. “As a hobby for 10 years, I launched and ran Crosswords LA which was one of the largest crossword tournaments in the country. I would just run it for fun,“ shared Dr. Grossman. All proceeds went to a 501C3 that sends readers to LAUSD schools monthly to foster a love of reading with kids. 

Her Research 

I was particularly fascinated by her research on escape rooms. Escape rooms are themed rooms where people are locked inside and solve challenging puzzles to escape. It grabbed her attention because not only was it an interesting entrepreneurial case, but it also was an amazing social activity she did with her friends. She described it as an activity that transcends age and really is an experience anyone can enjoy. Dr. Grossman added, “It turns out that it is actually a really robust form of entertainment around the world.” One interesting fact she discovered by talking to owners and taking tours was that escape rooms are typically located in “dodgy” areas with low rent so owners can focus their capital on making the experience as immersive as possible. 

Her Advice - “It’s Okay to Not Know”

My favorite bit of advice Dr. Grossman shared with me was: “I think there’s a myth that you’re supposed to be on a path and you know where you’re going when you're in 11th or 12th grade. When you’re in high school you should be thinking about college and when you’re in college you should be thinking about the next step.” In reality, it’s okay to not know. As you get older you discover new interests as you explore and it’s alright if those interests aren’t on the same path as the one you had previously discovered. 

When her students ask her advice on their career and their path in life she always says, “Throughout a career and throughout a life it’s often the case that you start out with every door available to you, and then over the course of a career/lifetime the number of doors you can open and walk through become fewer and fewer.

“It’s best to avoid dead ends because feeling trapped is the worst kind of feeling. Just keep reaching for those next doors and go through doors where you know there will be many different opportunities it can lead to.” 

Dr. Grossman added, “There is a subset of people in our world who know from the youngest age what they are going to do and they’re right. They know themselves; they know their world well enough to know with some level of accuracy. But I think there’s a great chance within those people who know what they want to do and end up happy, that a subset of those people are actually just lucky.” 

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is okay to not know what path you are going to travel for the rest of your life, and it is even more okay for that path to change. Talking to Dr. Grossman really helped me realize this fact and takes a lot of pressure off of having to make these big life decisions while still in high school. I had a wonderful time getting to talk to her about life, puzzles, and the fascination of escape rooms. Additionally, if you’re ever in the Los Angeles area looking for a good escape room, Dr. Grossman personally recommended Lab Rats by Hatch Escapes, where you are stuck in a laboratory where rats are experimenting on humans and have to escape before the doctoral student, Ratkinstein, turns you into mulch. I can’t wait to check this one out!