good guidelines

I’ve just received author guidelines from my publisher, and there’s one bit I’m extremely pleased with: they specifically note that their readers have diverse backgrounds, and ask specifically for examples using men and women, and people of different ethnic groups. I’m pleased about this on two grounds: inclusivity and pure laziness. I’d already done that, and am glad I won’t have to argue about using people with names like Jun and Truong, and using “she” as often as I use “he” when I need a pronoun to refer to a generic project leader or other person doing this work. They also say to use examples and metaphors that work for an international market (check – I spent the last six years trying to talk that way!) and avoid mention of religion. (That and sexual preference are irrelevant to me anyway, this being strictly a business book.)