Bhagavad-gita 1.28-29

Arjuna said: My dear Krishna, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up. My whole body is trembling, my hair is standing on end, my bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning.

Here the nature of Arjuna's feelings is presented. Duryodhana had no such reaction to the situation. His only concern was how to motivate his people to secure victory on the battlefield. His vision has no component of relieving the suffering of others. Rather than relying on loyalty to a vision and a higher cause, his recruitment strategy relied on personal loyalty to himself, or to remuneration that he was able to provide.

King Salya was an uncle of the Pandava brothers, and travelled overland with his army to join them in the battle. Approaching the site of the battle Salya arrived at a staging area which had been prepared in anticipation of him and his army. It had many facilities for his men, including lodgings and refreshments. As Sun Tzu explains, the maintenance of an army in the field is terribly expensive for the kingdom, so the provision of facilities such as these was no mere gesture but a substantial aid.

Salya and his forces put up for the night and rested well, served by the staff of the encampment. In the morning, rested and well fed, Salya requested the staff to introduce him to their host, as he wished to pledge his loyalty. Expecting to meet Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, he realized he had been tricked when the door of the tent was whisked aside to reveal Duryodhana.

Leadership in its purest form is found in volunteer organizations. In a volunteer organization leaders are unable to leverage job security or monetary incentives. They rely on the pure substance of leadership – influence and the good will of those they would lead.

Duryodhana's pitch consists of the problem that he wants to be King, and the solution of killing the Pandavas. There is no compassion in this, there is no deep awareness of the suffering of others coupled with the desire to relieve it. It is not a compelling vision except for the part which says: “You can share in the spoils with me”, and this appeals to a certain type of person only.

Bhagavad-gita is an extreme case to prove a point. We can see how Duryodhana is an extreme archetype of the self-absorbed, manipulative leader. Arjuna is about to demonstrate the other end of the spectrum. However, just how extreme a case Bhagavad-gita is will be fully revealed after this, when Krishna shows how even Arjuna's current level of leadership falls short of what is required of an authentic leader.