Christopher Muniz is a Developmental Leader

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Before becoming a global consumer services leader, Christopher Muniz got his first taste of what it meant to serve others at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. There, he was exposed to an important balancing act.

“It was about making sure customers were having a great experience while also making sure you were representing and protecting your employees,” says Muniz, who spent years at the center as a tour guide, a space camp counselor, and a head of operations.

Those two critical elements of success in customer service stuck with him throughout a twenty-year career that culminated in his tenure at Beachbody (BODi), a leading digital fitness, nutrition, and mindset subscription company. The company prides itself on creating innovative content and nutritional supplements.

As group vice president of service delivery and network support, he and his team help shape policy decisions, product development solutions, and more. For him, it’s not only a chance to help clients along their fitness journeys but to support his colleagues on their own paths to self-improvement. Most times, that takes the form of stretch assignments and empowering his team to take ownership over them, Muniz says.

“I think it is very important to have a pipeline of talent in your organization to ensure the growth of your team members and business continuity. Often times, the best way to achieve this is to give your team, and yourself, assignments that are outside of their current area of expertise or comfort level,” Muniz says. “It is only through developing expertise in a new skill, or the development of new relationships, can the assignment be completed successfully. Obviously, I’m there to support but even though I may see a problem well in advance, I allow my team members to experience the challenge themselves.”

His developmental approach to leadership has not only put his team in a position to grow but to have a voice during important conversations. As companies around the country evaluated their DEI stances and strategies, Muniz, who leads the most diverse team in his organization, presented their ideas to leadership. It had a snowball effect. First, the company started honoring months that celebrated marginalized groups. Those incremental steps led to the formation of a DEI council that’s currently responsible for many of the programs and initiatives set up to demonstrate the company’s commitments.

Muniz is proud to see that his team has stepped up to lead some of those efforts.

“We can’t just sit back and expect it all to be done for us,” he says. “Now that there’s an opportunity to participate and drive the conversation, we need to be there. I’m proud of our presence and that my colleagues are creating opportunities for themselves.”

Before coming to BODi, Muniz spent seven years at American Express in a variety of roles. As a scorecard reporting and analytics manager, he helped drive high performance across the outsourced partner network with key reporting and analysis initiatives. His promotion to senior manager of strategic sourcing allowed him to combine his data and people skills to optimize the customer experience. When he served as director of global consumer servicing and IVR, he used what he learned to lead the global serving network for all American Express prepaid products.

That leadership journey ran parallel to his journey as a father of twin sons, including one that was diagnosed with autism at a young age. He believes his roles at home and at work have taught him the value of patience, persistence, and flexibility.

“There are many times when you can see the finish line and you want to move quickly, but a direct path is just not available to you, so you have to be able to work around the obstacles, come up with solutions to problems that you never anticipated, be willing to accept the new situation, and be willing to change,” he says. 

Today, he pours his knowledge and experiences back into his colleagues at BODi. Right now, his team is focused on testing a chat bot driven on generative AI technology and understanding how it can help them better serve customers.

Those wishing to model his approach to leadership should start with “asking simple questions,” he says.

“A lot of the things I experienced and accomplished came from understanding a situation and a problem,” Muniz says. “You have to start solving problems by asking simple questions. If you can’t explain an answer in simple terms, you might not understand the issue enough.”

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