Was Hitler a laissez faire leader?

Answer 1

Not at all. He was quite the opposite. Laissez faire leaders keep hands-off and let their staffs do their jobs with minimal supervision. Hitler was in complete control of everything his political party and his followers did. He kept a close watch on them, and made sure they were carrying out his orders exactly. He had advisers and members of his party whom he respected, but the final say was his.

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Nazi leadership doctrine was actually rather more complex than this. The Fuhrerprinzip ("leader principle") in fact enshrined a good deal of autonomy at lower levels in the party hierarchy, provided of course that lower functional and local "leaders" were deemed to be acting in accordance with the supreme leader's will. In practice this entailed a good deal of disorder and outright thuggery even within the nazi party as would-be lesser Fuhrers vied for position and gain. Provided it didn't undermine nazi rule, such sometimes violent jockeying was considered a desirable struggle for the survival of the fittest, thereby improving the nazi stock. We saw how well that worked in 1945.