Lelouch has shown a penchant for sitting back in relative safety while he orders everyone else to do things. And he's shown that he doesn't really care about the Japanese resistance that they were all previously a part of by killing "friend and foe" in that landslide, etc.
On the flipside of that, you have someone like Cornelia who not only commands her troops, but puts herself on the line in the actual combat -- this is something Lelouch never does. Sure he's in a Knightmare, but in reality thats just armor around him, and he doesn't really do much with it. You saw how the other Knights on foot were fighting way more dangerously and getting hurt.
He really is only using them as pawns so far -- its in his best interests to not get his core team wiped out is all
