"A truly equal world would be one where women ran half of our countries and companies and men ran half of our homes," she wrote.

She's not just interested in selling books, either. Sandberg's Lean In campaign promises to support women through community, education and small groups by offering "ongoing inspiration and support to help them achieve their goals."

"Women are held back by many things, including bias and lack of opportunity," Sandberg said in her "Welcome to Lean In" video, adding "We also hold ourselves back."

In her book, Sandberg outlined three things women can do to further their careers: don't slow down their career before deciding to start a family, let go of unattainable goals, and make sure their colleagues are aware when women are held to different standards than men, particularly when women succeed.

The book hadn't even hit the shelves before everyone from every corner started weighing in.

Sandberg's push to get women into the corner office and at the conference table fails to take into account that not everyone is "superhuman and rich," as Anne-Marie Slaughter, a Princeton professor and former senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wrote in Fortune Magazine

Kefalas said it a little more succinctly: Sandberg lives in a fantasy world.

"We don't live in a vacuum," she said, "Maybe Sheryl does, but not the rest of us."

She works hard for the money

Put aside Sandberg's dream of more women reaching the top rungs of the corporate ladder for a moment. Statistics indicate that women still have a lot of barriers to just earning pay equal to that of their male counterparts.

Today, more than seven out of 10 mothers taking care of children are in the labor force, and nearly half of all married couples are dual breadwinners, according to Pew Research Center data from 2010.

Still, the public remains conflicted about the impact working mothers have on their young children, with only 21 percent of Americans saying it's a good thing.

"The cultural story of good mothering has not been reconciled yet to reflect working women," Kefalas said. "There are social rules and the standards are very demanding."

There is a structural reality that women live in, and there's a story women tell themselves about their lives -- a story that is impossible to live up to, Kefalas said.

"There is no way to have it all."

Sandberg agrees. The book excerpt says women should "stop trying to have it all." It also acknowledges the "sacrifices and hardships" that are tougher today "because of the expansion of working hours."

But according to the Facebook executive, that doesn't mean working moms should give up on their careers.

"If more women lean in, we can change the power structure of our world and expand opportunities," she wrote. "Shared experience forms the basis of empathy and, in turn, can spark the institutional changes we need. More female leadership will lead to fairer treatment for all women."

Sounds easy enough, right? Not so fast, Kefalas said.

"At the end of the day, we make choices about the kind of people we want to be, and it's so much more than self-sabotaging."