Metis

Noun: (from the Greek) The knowledge that can come only from practical experience.

Example: “The metis of the harbor pilot got the boat across the bar in the storm.”

I first saw this word in Seeing Like a State by James C Scott. Metis means an adaptable set of skills that are useful for solving multi-variable problems. Groups do not follow basic laws like physical objects. The outcomes of multivariable problems are subject to the rules of complexity not of physics. Metis can’t come from the top down. It is more than skill because it is adaptable to changing circumstances.