I'm not going to defend your old boss. I will, on the other hand, point out that it's a good thing to reflect on what kind of capabilities every employee has, and to give them tasks that they're both qualified to do, but also which give them opportunities to develop their skillset. If you employ a chemist with a phd, you shouldn't be making them spend loads of time on stuff a lab technician can do. That's not saying the lab tech has any lower value (they're absolutely critical personnel), it's just recognising that the phd has a skill set that very few people have, so you should try to utilise that skill set in the best possible way, and offload tasks that others can do to those other people. Typically, this makes the phd happier, because they get to apply their specialised skills. It also typically makes the tech happier, because they're actually trusted to apply their skills (and they're typically better at what they do than the phd), and not made to feel like they're "second rate".

My point is really that I think it's a good thing to recognise that some people have highly specialised skill sets, and to try to optimise around letting people do what they do best, rather than making them slog though something someone else would do better anyway. I don't think your old boss worded it very nicely though.