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My wife calls me a geek because I'm very much of an engineering frame of mind. But I did acquire business acumen along the way. My family had a small motel and a building supply business in Arkansas. We worried about things like sales, profits and borrowings, and it helped a lot that I grew up in that environment.

I joined 25 others at Acxiom in 1972 as vice-president. Since then, Acxiom has expanded from a small data processing company into a multinational corporation. It was a gradual process - there wasn't a 'eureka moment' when we realised what we could achieve. When I joined Acxiom annual revenue was £300,000. I looked at my new associates and said "one day we will have a $10 million business - if we work hard".

Note that I wasn't thinking $50 million or $100 million. I believe in taking it gradually, step by step. We're located in Arkansas, a fairly rural setting in the US, but we saw opportunities in the New York marketing scene in the mid-70s. In the 1980s we looked to Europe and in 1987 bought Southwark Computer Services in the UK. Expansion doesn't look so daunting if you build this way - adding three companies this year, and four the next and before you know it you have a billion dollar company.

I still have an intense interest in technology. Our Abilitec database technology was developed by me ten years ago and has transformed our business in the US and the UK, and soon in Europe.

Successful companies create value for customers, but also for the people that work there. It's real simple: give them benefits, pay, leadership and enough self-determination to allow an entrepreneurial spirit, but balance that with what we need to have in terms of the business structure.

The proof of the pudding is that Acxiom has been named five times in Fortune magazine's "100 best places to work for".

Through our various acquisitions I've learned to be flexible. With Consodata, for instance, we were acquiring a company that was in direct competition with a company we'd already acquired - Claritas - and so we weren't allowed to do as much due diligence before the announcement as I'd normally expect.

But to date there have been no surprises and we're in the process of integrating Acxiom, Claritas and Consodata.

There's a perception that US firms adopt a colonial view when expanding into other countries, imposing their rule on the locals, and to some extent we'll be accused of that. It won't be cultural domination, but we will exchange knowledge. We'll create one Acxiom - with standard data products to the degree that it's practical to do that - but with an understanding of local markets. We're trying to service two sets of customers: local markets and the global players who don't want different tools in every country they go in to.

I do believe in having a work-life balance for myself. After a motor racing career spanning more than 20 years, I semi-retired in 1997 as I'm getting way too old to be a racing driver. But last year I drove in the 24-hour Daytona race - the US version of the 24-hour Le Mans - and we finished second in our category.

I've been accused of liking to go fast. What can I tell you? You've got to move quickly in business to succeed. I've seen lots of businesses that had a great vision, but before they could capitalise on it, they missed the opportunity. We'll try not to let that happen to Acxiom.

Charles D Morgan was talking to Noelle McElhatton

CV

First job

- Systems engineer, IBM

Climbing the ladder

- 1972 - joined Acxiom as vice-president

- 1975 - promoted to CEO and chairman of the board of directors

- 1991 - assumed additional title of president

- 1997 - became 'company leader' when Acxiom eliminated job titles

Secrets

- Take expansion and acquisition gradually

- Give people benefits, pay, leadership and self-determination within

the strategic framework

- Learn to be flexible