I was arguing the philosophy leading up to the statement was misguided and that a master plan (strategy) cannot be directly applied in daily work (tactics).

Segmented responsibility, which I agree is the way things work best in the world, not just project management, looks like anarchy from 10,000 feet or on a 10 year project plan. Intelligent design, crock that it is, has been a persuasive idea for all human history because self-interested "anarchy" churns out things like spider silk, gecko toes, echolocation, and mantis shrimp eyes and claws in immeasurable amounts.