> Not to be a complete jerk about it, but do you see something wrong with this interchange?

Sure. But I don't think it means what *you* think it means. :-)

The 'something wrong' comes right afterwards, when the upper manager fails to realize that *he's* the one who screwed up, in not making sure the three-way handshake of transferring management responsibility actually completed.

And, for that matter, project leads don't typically have hire/fire anyway.